Greenhouse gases
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(Redirected from Greenhouse gas)
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.
The main greenhouse gases are:
- Water (H2O, gaseous)
- Carbon dioxide (CO2)
- Methane (CH4)
- Nitrous oxide (N2O)
- Ozone (O3, tropospheric)
- Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6)
- Hydrofluorocarbons (HFC)
- Perfluorocarbons (PFC)
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Links
- All about greenhouse gas science
- International Energy Agency GHG programme
- World Data Centre for Greenhouse Gases
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News
- World needs to rethink biofuels - U.N. food agency, 7 October 2008 by Reuters: "The Western world needs to rethink its rush to biofuels, which has done more harm pushing up food prices than it has good by reducing greenhouse gases, a United Nations report said on Tuesday."
- "'The report finds that while biofuels will offset only a modest share of fossil energy use over the next decade they will have much bigger impacts on agriculture and food security,' it said in its annual State of Food and Agriculture report."
- "'In many cases, increased emissions from land-use change are likely to offset or even exceed the greenhouse gas savings obtained by replacing fossil fuels with biofuels, and impacts on water, soil and biodiversity are also a concern,' FAO said."[1]
- Biofuel policies in OECD countries costly and ineffective, says report, 16 July 2008 press release by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD): "Government support of biofuel production in OECD countries is costly, has a limited impact on reducing greenhouse gases and improving energy security, and has a significant impact on world crop prices, according to a new study of policies to promote greater production and use of biofuel in OECD countries."
- "The reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is a primary reason for current biofuel policies but the savings are limited. Ethanol from sugar cane - the main feedstock used in Brazil – reduces greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80 percent compared to fossil fuels. But emission reductions are much smaller from biofuels based on feedstocks used in Europe and North America."
- Biofuels produced from wheat, sugar beet or vegetable oil rarely provide emission savings of more than 30 to 60 percent while savings from corn (maize) based ethanol are generally less than 30 percent. Overall, the continuation of current biofuel support policies would reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transport fuel by no more than 0.8 percent by 2015."[2]
- New Plastic-based CO2 capturing membrane developed using nanotechnology - September 2007.
