Wednesday, April 14, 2010 / 06:02:11

How Do Greenhouse Gases Affect Our Environment?

What are these greenhouse gases that are released as a result of human activities? Let's find out.
Kelly Hunter


You'd be surprised to know that if there weren't any greenhouse gases being released naturally in the earth's atmosphere, it planet would be too cold to inhabit. Without these gases, Earth's average temperature would be around -2°F as compared with 57°F that humans experience today. Fortunately for us, these gases provide us a natural blanket against heat.

So what are these greenhouse gases that are released as a result of human activities? Let's find out.

Types of Greenhouse Gases
There are six different types of greenhouse gases that are released by human activities in America. These gases are:

1. Carbon dioxide (CO2)
2. Nitrous oxide (N2O)
3. Methane (CH4)
4. Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)
5. Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)
6. Perfluorocarbons (PFCs)

Gases 4 to 6 are industrial gases. In the last one and a half century there has been a slow and steady increase in amount of greenhouse gases released.

Scientific studies have shown that there are increased levels of many gases. In some cases there is an increase by almost 40% due to rampant industrialization. However, there has been a serious rise in human-induced emissions due to use of fossil fuels. This has led a significant increase in carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. The natural processes of the earth can absorb as much as 6.2 Billion metric tons of human-induced emissions of carbon dioxide each year. However, an additional 4.1 billion metric ton of emissions are released into the atmosphere annually.

Unfortunately, the imbalance between green house gas emissions and atmospheric absorption leads to an increase in concentration of these gases in the atmosphere...leading to global warming and a warmer planet. The average surface temperature of our planet increases over time and produces changes in storm severity, sea levels, and precipitation patterns. All this is commonly known as 'climate change.'

According to some studies carried out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), are known to suggest that the temperature of the Earth has risen from around 1.1° to 1.6°F in the last 100 years due to human activity.

There is little doubt that greenhouse gases are required for our ecosystem. However, when the natural absorption processes are derailed due to accelerated human activities causing more release of gases like carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Excess CO2 can even damage the ozone layer and promote skin cancer and other serious diseases. Of course, other harmful gases released due to consuming fossil fuels like oil, coal, etc, like methane and nitrous oxide can also cause serious complications. It is important to cut down on use of chemicals and fossil fuels and to switch to using renewable resources of energy like wind and hydro power.

The world over, fossil fuels contribute towards 85% of all the energy consumed. They are also responsible for almost 99% of CO2 emissions! Therefore, by cutting down on the consumption of fossil fuels, we'll be better able to save our planet from devastation and create a better future for our children and future generations.

Kelly Hunter owns and operates http://www.home-weather-station.org and writes about Home Weather Stations devices.

Comments (0) / Link to this topic - http://www.carbongases.org/carbon-gases/
How-Do-Greenhouse-Gases-Affect-Our-Environment---1.html



       More of interest
  • Buildings consume 40 percent of the world's energy: According to studies, roughly 40 percent of the world's energy is consumed by buildings. If we want to control and cut emissions of greenhouse gases, ..
  • How Recycling Bags Helps The Environment: You may not be aware, but in the United States, we are using bags all of the time! There are the bags we get at the grocery store, the ones we pack l..
  • Keeping The Environment Safe From Harmful Chemicals: Think about recycling and maybe the first thing to pop into your head isn't damage that's done to the earth when we use products with harmful chemical..
  • What If You could Be Paid To Recycle?: The idea of getting paid to recycle may sound far fetched and you may think the story will end with, "...and they lived happily ever after." But that..
  • Financial payback from green thinking: When you look at movies made back in the eighties, even nineties, then every once in a while the "bad" guy is the head of a big corporation with lots ..
  • Biomass and Green House Effect: Biomass is the organic material produced by animals and trees. Biomass is one of the best organic fuels and it used in various nuclear plants for gene..
  • How to Reduce Green House Effect: Green house effect is a natural process. Green house effect plays a very crucial role in climate change. Human activities on the earth are increas..
  • Empire State Building cuts its carbon emissions by 105 000 metric tons over the next 15 years: "These promising first-year results underscore the impact of this global flagship project, which continues to serve as a model for sustainable climate..
  • How Recycling Bags Helps The Environment: You may not be aware, but in the United States, we are using bags all of the time! There are the bags we get at the grocery store, the ones we pack l..
  • Recycling To Keep Our Planet Healthy: We've all heard the warnings; acid rain, global warming, landfills without any room, and on and on. We don't recycle because it's the "in" thing to d..
  • Turn your property into a high performance building: The only way to make sure the world changes for the better, is to start with changing yourself, the way you think about things and the way you do thin..
  • How Long Do Carbon Gases Stay In The Air?: Carbon gas is one of the important gases of green house effect system. In air we have water vapors with numbers of gases including hydrogen, oxygen, a..
  • How Carbon Gases Changes Global Climate: The issue of climate change is not new. Human expansion of green house effect is the main source of changing global climate. We are facing the bad cli..
  • A smooth-running car is a green car: There are lots of people asking what they can do with their cars to make sure they don't pollute the earth's atmosphere more than they should. Obvious..
  • Climate Change Panel Says Expect More Extreme Weather: Over the last half-century, global warming has led to changes in climate extremes such as heat waves, record high temperatures and in many regions, he..
  • How Carbon Gases Effects the Green House Effect: Carbon Gas is one of the important gases in our environment. There are numbers of forms of this gas but carbon dioxide is one of the popular forms. Ca..
  • Nissan Altima 2013 comes with new fuel-saving technologies: Nissan has just announced Nissan Altima 2013.
  • Carbon Dioxide – Too Much is Too Bad: Knowing that carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas is one thing, but being knowledgeable of the implications of too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere..
  • Carbon Monoxide Poisoning: More than being an odorless and colorless gas that most textbooks introduce Carbon Monoxide as, this is one carbon rich gas that can literally choke o..
  • Do you want an environmentally friendly home? For free?: Creating a green home can be a rather difficult, not to mention a rather expensive task to undertake.
  • Human Activities Resulting in the Release of Carbon Gases: Carbon gases have had a lot to contribute towards the upkeep of the climatic health of our planet. However, excess of everything has negative implicat..
  • Carbon gases and the Greenhouse Effect: It is easy to dismiss greenhouse effect as the ‘bad guy’ very often, just because of the fact that all sentences one listens to or reads about the sam..
  • Drive For Innovation: 12-month journey with Chevrolet Volt: UBM Electronics has partnered with Avnet Express for new kind of media project to celebrate and the introduce the innovations in electronics innovation and automotive system design.
  • Carbon Gases - the introduction: One of the fundamental elements of life is the carbon without which there could have been no life. Almost every biological residue contains carbon, ei..
  • Carbon Credits and Environmental management: Carbon credits are now a key component of national and international emissions trading schemes.
  • Carbon Footprinting For Beginners: What are the main reasons for measuring carbon footprint?
  • How to Measure and Reduce Your Carbon Footprint : Population control measures are likely to help. So will reducing our intake of meat, as it will cut down on emissions arising from processing of meat.
  • The 4 Most Powerful Greenhouse Gases: This little article will tell you about the most powerful greenhouse gases in the world. Some may even surprise you.
  • Reduce Carbon Dioxide Production : Eighty-six percent of all the world's energy is created from fossil fuels.
  • The Greenhouse Effect - What is it and What Can We Do About It? : Is there anything we can do about the Greenhouse Effect?
  • What Affects Our Carbon Footprint? : Our home is responsible for the creation of carbon emissions simply by using power and the focus here is on how efficient our homes are in using it.