Greenhouse gas
hideGreenhouse gases are gases in an atmosphere that absorb and emit radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. Common greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere include water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. In our solar system, the atmospheres of Venus, Mars and Titan also contain gases that cause greenhouse effects. Greenhouse gases greatly affect the temperature of the Earth; without them, Earth's surface would be on average about 33°C (59°F) colder than at present.
Human activities since the start of the industrial era around 1750 have increased the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The 2007 assessment report compiled by the IPCC observed that "changes in atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases and aerosols, land cover and solar radiation alter the energy balance of the climate system", and concluded that "increases in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations is very likely to have caused most of the increases in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century".
For more information about Greenhouse gas, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with carbon emissions
Researchers Discover Use for Carbon Dioxide in Conversion of Biomass Into Biofuel
Nov 11, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at Columbia University have successfully discovered a beneficial use for carbon dioxide in the conversion of organic materials, such as grass and bark, into fuel. Their findings ...
Germany's biggest solar park inaugurated
Aug 20, 2009 |
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Germany's largest solar park, and the world's second biggest, was inaugurated on Thursday on the site of a former Soviet military training ground in the east of the country.
Family planning a major environmental impact
Jul 31, 2009 |
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Some people who are serious about wanting to reduce their "carbon footprint" on the Earth have one choice available to them that may yield a large long-term benefit - have one less child.
University has grand designs to build a house of straw (w/ Video)
Jul 27, 2009 |
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Could straw houses be the buildings of the future? That's what researchers at the University of Bath will be testing this summer by constructing a "BaleHaus" made of prefabricated straw bale and hemp cladding ...
Synthetic Tree Captures Carbon 1,000 Faster Than Real Trees
Jul 09, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have designed a synthetic tree that traps carbon dioxide from the air in an attempt to combat growing emissions. The device looks less like a tree and more like a small building, ...
New method may help allocate carbon emissions responsibility among nations
Jul 06, 2009 |
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Just months before world leaders are scheduled to meet to devise a new international treaty on climate change, a research team led by Princeton University scientists has developed a new way of dividing responsibility ...
Scientists should look at their own carbon footprint
Jun 08, 2009 |
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Scientists studying the impact of climate change on the Arctic need to consider ways to reduce their own carbon footprints, says a researcher who regularly flies north to study the health of caribou.
All the carbon counts
May 28, 2009 |
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Cutting down forests for agriculture vents excess carbon dioxide into the air just as industrial activities and the burning of fossil fuels do. But whether policies to stabilize greenhouse gases in the atmosphere ...
Study: Climate adds fuel to Asian wildfire emissions
Apr 30, 2009 |
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In the last decade, Asian farmers have cleared tens of thousands of square miles of forests to accommodate the world's growing demand for palm oil, an increasingly popular food ingredient. Ancient peatlands ...
Forests could flip from sink to source of CO2: study
Apr 17, 2009 |
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Forests that today soak up a quarter of carbon pollution spewed into the atmosphere could soon become a net source of CO2 if Earth's surface warms by another two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), cautions ...
Biofuels could hasten climate change
Apr 14, 2009 |
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A new study finds that it will take more than 75 years for the carbon emissions saved through the use of biofuels to compensate for the carbon lost when biofuel plantations are established on forestlands. If the original ...
Heating from carbon dioxide will increase five-fold over next millennia
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jan 29, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the University of Liverpool have found that heating from carbon dioxide will increase five-fold over the next millennia.
New study predicts future consequences of a global biofuels program
Oct 22, 2009 |
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A report examining the impact of a global biofuels program on greenhouse gas emissions during the 21st century has found that carbon loss stemming from the displacement of food crops and pastures for biofuels ...
Software Helps Design Energy Stingy Buildings (w/ Video)
Oct 12, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A new quick, easy to use and free software tool created by NREL developers seamlessly combines the building energy simulation of EnergyPlus with the popular drawing interface of Google's SketchUp, ...
Corals 'could starve in high CO2'
Oct 05, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- As human activity pumps more and more carbon into the atmosphere, a new threat has emerged to the world's coral reefs - starvation.
