Greenhouse gases

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Bioenergy > Environmental impacts > Climate change > Greenhouse gases (GHGs)

See also the page RSB Working Group on Greenhouse Gases (GHG WG) and the RSB principle on Climate Change and GHG.

Greenhouse gases (GHGs) are a category of substances, which, under their gaseous form, have a greenhouse effect upon the atmosphere. By preventing infrared radiation to escape the atmosphere (this phenomenon happens naturally to evacuate a part of the heat accumulated by the earth through the ultraviolet radiation from the sun), they contribute to make its temperature increase.

Types

The following are major greenhouse gases.

Water (H₂O, gaseous)

Carbon dioxide (CO₂)

Methane

Methane (CH₄) is produced through the anaerobic decomposition of organic matter, such as in through the digestion of food (significant in the case of ruminants, see livestock) or from sewage and other wastes. The capture and use of methane (biogas, from solid waste) is an important emissions reduction approach. For more information see the landfill gas collection and biogas sections.

Nitrous oxide (N₂O)

Ozone (O₃, tropospheric)

Sulphur hexafluoride (SF₆)

Hydrofluorocarbons (HFC)

Perfluorocarbons (PFC)

Links

• All about greenhouse gas science
  
• International Energy Agency GHG programme
  
• World Data Centre for Greenhouse Gases

Resources/Reports

Relative GHG emissions reduction potentials for ethanol by feedstock type. These estimates refer to direct emissions only, and do not include emissions from land use change. Source: Worldwatch Issue Brief: U.S. Biofuels: Climate Change and Policies (PDF file)

• Soil Carbon Sequestration in U.S. Rangelands Issues Paper for Protocol Development (PDF) by the Environmental Defense Fund. This reports looks at issues such as agriculture, emissions offsets, grasslands, increased carbon sequestration, and soil.

• Up for Grabs: Deforestation and Exploitation in Papua's Plantations Boom - 2009 Environmental Investigation Agency Report.
  • "A pilot study in Sumatra and Kalimantan looked at the emissions from land clearing and oil palm cultivation and processing, compared with potential climate benefits of the biofuel produced. Oil palm was found to store less than 40 tonnes biomass on average over a 25 year lifespan. Logged-over forest stored 70-200 tonnes carbon per hectare. Untouched forests contain even more, sometimes in excess of 400 tonnes per hectare." [1]

• The Natural Fix? The Role of Ecosystems in Climate Mitigation, A UNEP Rapid Response Assessment (PDF). Trumper, K., et al. June 2009. United Nations Environment Programme, UNEPWCMC, Cambridge, UK. (ISBN: 978-82-7701-057-1).
  • Includes information on ecosystem services, carbon sequestration, agriculture, land use, and biodiversity conservation and how these relate to global climate change.
• Forest Management Solutions for Mitigating Climate Change in the United States. (2009, Society of American Foresters, Bethesda, Maryland, USA). PDF copy of the Malmsheimer et al. publication (ISBN: 978-0-939970-96-4).
  • Includes chapters and figures on "Preventing GHG Emissions Through Biomass Substitution", "Preventing GHG Emissions Through Avoided Land-Use Change", "Preventing GHG Emissions Through Wood Substitution", and "Preventing GHG Emissions Through Wildfire Behavior Modification".
• Climate change and health costs of air emissions from biofuels and gasoline by Jason Hill, et al. December 2008. The report analyzes the environmental impacts of energy use on society. It also discusses the benefits, including health costs and GHG reduction, of shifting from gasoline to cellulosic ethanol production.

News

2010

• Engineers Find Significant Environmental Impacts with Algae-Based Biofuel, Offer Alternative to Production, 21 January 2010 by Newswise: "[University of Virginia] research, just published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, demonstrates that algae production consumes more energy, has higher greenhouse gas emissions and uses more water than other biofuel sources, such as switchgrass, canola and corn."
  • "'Given what we know about algae production pilot projects over the past 10 to 15 years, we've found that algae's environmental footprint is larger than other terrestrial crops,' said Andres Clarens, an assistant professor in U.Va.'s Civil and Environmental Department and lead author on the paper."
  • "As an environmentally sustainable alternative to current algae production methods, the researchers propose situating algae production ponds behind wastewater treatment facilities to capture phosphorous and nitrogen – essential nutrients for growing algae that would otherwise need to be produced from petroleum."[2]

• Amazon rainforest will bear cost of biofuel policies in Brazil, 8 February 2010 by Mongabay: "Business-as-usual agricultural expansion to meet biofuel production targets for 2020 will take a heavy toll on Brazil's Amazon rainforest in coming years, undermining the potential emissions savings of transitioning from fossil fuels to biofuels, warns a new paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The research suggests that intensification of cattle ranching, combined with efforts to promote high-yielding oil crops like oil palm could lessen forecast greenhouse gas emissions from indirect land use in the region."
  • See the PNAS paper, Lapola et al. Indirect land-use changes can overcome carbon savings from biofuels in Brazil.[3]

• White House Clears Rules on Indirect GHG Emissions From Biofuels, 2 February 2010 by Greenwire/New York Times: "The White House has completed its review of controversial U.S. EPA regulations aimed at curbing renewable fuels' greenhouse gas emissions."
  • "The Office of Management and Budget signed off on the rule yesterday..., clearing EPA to finalize the long-delayed implementation of the renewable fuels standard that Congress included in the 2007 energy bill."
  • "The standard requires EPA to assess the "lifecycle" emissions of biofuels -- weighing the emissions from growing crops, producing fuels made from them, and distributing and using the fuels."
  • "The draft regulations EPA proposed last year sparked outrage from biofuels advocates and farm-state lawmakers who maintained the agency was unfair to ethanol."
  • "The EPA proposal measures emissions from "indirect" land-use changes associated with biofuels -- such as land that is deforested in other countries because of increased crop growth in the United States. The agency concluded, depending on the time frames modeled, that traditional corn ethanol could have a slightly larger emissions footprint than gasoline when land-use changes are factored in."[4]

• Lawsuit: LCFS violates US Constitution, 4 January 2010 by Todd J. Guerrero in Ethanol Producer Magazine: "In a case that will be closely watched throughout the country, Growth Energy and the Renewable Fuels Association recently filed suit in federal district court alleging that California’s low carbon fuel standard (LCFS) violates the federal Constitution."
  • "Adopted by the California Air Resources Board in 2009, the LCFS is intended to reduce California greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by reducing the carbon intensity of transportation fuels used in California by an average of 10 percent by the year 2020. Carbon intensity is a measure of the direct and indirect GHG emissions associated with each step of a fuel’s full life cycle – the 'well-to-wheels' for fossil fuels and 'seed-to-wheels' for biofuels."
  • "For corn ethanol, indirect land use changes are a significant source of additional GHG emissions....Given the LCFS’ requirement of reduced carbon intensity, it’s not difficult to see that corn ethanol will be severely disadvantaged in California."[5]

2009

• Copenhagen: Non-binding political accord under discussion as talks near an end, 18 December 2009 by Yale Environment 360: "With time running out in at the climate summit, negotiators are considering issuing a political statement, “The Copenhagen Accord,” that would not lead to a binding climate agreement next year but rather set a goal of halving global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050."
  • "The accord would delay formal consideration of a treaty reducing greenhouse gas emissions until 2012, and in the meantime set a goal for industrialized nations to slash their greenhouse emissions by 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, with emissions from all nations being cut by 50 percent by 2050."
• Biofuels Take Center Stage in Copenhagen, 17 December 2009 by 25x'25 REsource Blog: Copenhagen climate summit events "highlighted the critically important role biofuels can play in addressing the multiple challenges that must be addressed in a rapidly changing world. Specifically, the events and discussions underscored how renewable, clean fuels sustainably created from current and next generation bioenergy feedstocks can reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), improve food security, stimulate economic development and reduce global poverty."[6]

• USDA Makes a Move on Methane, 12 December 2009 by CQ Politics: "Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a conference call from Copenhagen that his department and the dairy industry have reached an agreement to accelerate efforts to reduce the industry’s greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent by 2020. The announcement is part of the Obama administration’s continuing campaign to convince farmers they can benefit from an international agreement on climate change."
  • "USDA will provide technical assistance and grants to dairy farmers for anaerobic digesters and generators used to compost manure, extract gases and burn them to produce electricity. Manure emits methane, a major greenhouse gas."[7]

• Launching of the ‘National Biomass Cookstove Initiative’ by Indian Government, 3 December 2009 by HEDON Household Energy Network: "The Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy launched a New Initiative on Improved Biomass Cookstoves 'National Biomass Cookstove Initiative' on the 2nd of December 2009 in New Delhi."
  • "A large section of [India's] population – 75% of the rural households and 22% of the urban households, according to the National Sample Survey’s 61st survey -- still uses biomass for its cooking needs. An estimated 80% of the residential energy in India comes from biomass, much of it burnt in traditional chulhas."
  • "[P]roviding a clean cooking energy option for these households will yield enormous gains in terms of health and socio-economic welfare of the weakest and the most vulnerable sections of society. At the same time, the cleaner combustion in these devices will greatly reduce the products of incomplete combustion which are greenhouse pollutants, thus helping combat climate change." [8]

• Impacts of Global Biofuel Boom Remain Murky, 16 October 2009 by Scientific American: A U.N. Environment Programme "report concludes that so-called lifecycle assessments must go beyond calculating greenhouse gas emissions and consider how agricultural production of feedstocks affect the acidification and nutrient loading of waterways."[9]

• Neste picks palm oil for diesel output, 4 June 2009 by Business Times: "NESTE Oil Corp has chosen palm oil as its main raw material for producing renewable diesel production units called NExBTL as palm oil is the most sustainable and competitive raw material because of its availability, price and greenhouse gas balance."

• Biomass energy 'could be harmful', 14 April 2009 by BBC News: "Biomass power - such as burning wood for energy - could do more harm than good in the battle to reduce greenhouse gases, the [UK] Environment Agency warns."
  • "Biomass is considered low carbon as long as what is burnt is replaced by new growth, and harvesting and transport do not use too much fuel."
  • "The EA's report reiterated the belief that biomass had the potential to play a 'major role' in producing low carbon, renewable energy to help meet future energy needs and help cut greenhouse gas emissions."
  • "But the report Biomass: Carbon Sink or Carbon Sinner (PDF file) also found that the greenhouse gas emission savings from such fuels were currently highly variable."[10]

• Biofuel carbon footprint not as big as feared, Michigan State University research says, 15 January 2009 by MSU News: "Publications ranging from the journal Science to Time magazine have blasted biofuels for significantly contributing to greenhouse gas emissions, calling into question the environmental benefits of making fuel from plant material. But a new analysis by Michigan State University scientists says these dire predictions are based on a set of assumptions that may not be correct."
  • "'Our analysis shows that crop management is a key factor in estimating greenhouse gas emissions associated with land use change associated with biofuels,' [MSU University Professor Bruce] Dale said. 'Sustainable management practices, such as no-till farming and planting cover crops, can reduce the time it takes for biofuels to overcome the carbon debt to three years for grassland conversion and 14 years for temperate zone forest conversion.'" [11]

2008

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