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Greenhouse gases and sources
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the number one greenhouse gas and is responsible for over half the man-made climate change. However, there are other greenhouse gases that contribute significantly to the warming of the planet.
According to the IPCC report, the following human-emitted greenhouse gases make a significant contribution to climate change:
- Carbon dioxide (CO2): Caused by the burning of fossil fuels and changes in land use, including deforestation
- Methane (CH4): Caused by farm animals, rice farming, and to a lesser extent industrial sources, e.g. mining and transport of fossil energy sources
- Nitrous oxide (N2O): Mainly caused by agriculture
- Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC): A coolant, the production and use of which is now internationally prohibited
- Hydrofluorocarbon and perfluorocarbon (HFCs and PFCs): Caused by certain technologies such as air conditioning systems
- Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6): Caused by certain technical applications, e.g. insulation gas
The global warming contribution of each of these gases differs due to the differences in their properties. For instance the contribution of a given amount of methane to global warming is 25 times higher than that of the same amount of CO2. In the case of sulphur hexafluoride, the effect is as much as 25,000 times higher.
- Greenhouse gases caused by humans.
This graph shows which gases caused by humans contribute to the greenhouse effect. Carbon dioxide (CO2) has the most significant share, while other greenhouse gases are much more effective in reflecting thermal radiation. A methane molecule, for instance, is 21 times more effective than a CO2 molecule.
Sources of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions
- Greenhouse gas emissions in the year 2004 by sector (IPCC, 2007).
The diagram shows how much the various sectors contribute to total greenhouse gas emissions. The largest proportion is caused by energy supply (25.9%). Further important contributors are as follows: Industry (19.4%), forestry including deforestation and land-use changes (17,4%), agriculture (13.5%) and traffic (13.1%).
Emission and atmospheric concentration
When estimating the future effects of greenhouse gases we need to discern between emissions and atmospheric concentration. A constant emission is equivalent to a rise in greenhouse gas concentrations. The stabilisation of a given atmospheric concentration, and therefore greenhouse effect, requires a reduction of emissions. There is a certain amount of uncertainty involved in analysing connections between the progress of certain emissions and the concentration of greenhouse gases. This uncertainty stems from the complexity of the circulation of greenhouse gases between the atmosphere, oceans, the biosphere and the earth.
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