What are Greenhouse Gases and How Can We Reduce Them?

What are Greenhouse Gases?

Greenhouse gases are gases in the earth’s atmosphere that trap energy from the sun and keep it within our atmosphere. Naturally occurring greenhouse gases include water vapor, ozone, carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O).

Though there are concerns with human-produced greenhouse gas emissions, natural emissions are ultimately good. Without them, the earth’s average temperature would be about 33C lower than it is, which would be about -15C, making our planet uninhabitable.

Unfortunately, humankind’s lack of concern for the environment is starting to catch up with us. While the earth’s atmosphere still contains what we consider natural, or ‘good’ greenhouse gases, it is also seeing increasing build up of human-produced gases, which has a huge impact on global warming.

So what is it that releases carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide into the atmosphere, and what can you do to change it? Keep reading to find out:

Carbon Dioxide:

Carbon dioxide is probably the most well known of greenhouse gases. ‘Carbon emissions’ are used almost interchangeably with ‘greenhouse gas emissions’ because so much of our greenhouse gas contribution is carbon-based. The five most human-produced CO2 practices are as follows:

1. Fossil Fuel Combustion: The burning of oil, natural gas, and coal
   
2. Non-energy use of fuels: Chemical uses and road-making material
   
3. Iron and Steel Production: Manufacturing process
   
4. Cement Production: Manufacturing process
   
5. Waste Combustion: The destruction of waste

Methane:

Methane isn’t quite as commonly produced as CO2, but it is still a contributing factor to our atmosphere’s greenhouse effect. The five most contributing factors to our overabundance of Methane gases are the following:

1. Landfills: An increase of waste means an increase of methane produced
   
2. Natural Gas Systems: Natural gas as an energy source
   
3. Coal Mining: Methane is released during the mining process
   
4. Manure Management: Production of manure for farming or gardening uses
   
5. Wastewater Treatment: Recycling process of water

Nitrous Oxide:

Nitrous Oxide isn’t produced in great abundance, but it still has a harmful impact on the environment. This gas is produced primarily from agricultural and industrial activities, but it is also produced from the combustion of fossil fuels and solid waste. The five most common processes that emit Nitrous Oxide are as follows:

1. Agricultural Soil Management: Usage of highly organic soils and production of nitrogen-fixing crops
   
2. Fossil Fuel Combustions: The burning of natural gas, oil, or coal
   
3. Manure Management: Turning livestock biological waste into usable manure
   
4. Nitric Acid: A byproduct of fertilizer production
   
5. Human Sewage: Biological waste mixed with wastewater from our homes

How Can You Make a Difference?

So now that you know the major sources of greenhouse gases emitted by humans, the question is, what can you do to decrease your personal impact? We certainly can’t fix our planet’s atmosphere overnight, but if we make small changes in everyday living, we’ll start seeing results. The best ways to decrease your greenhouse gas contrition are to:

Save energy:

You got it: Turn out the lights, unplug your electronics, and walk instead of drive. Of course this doesn’t mean you should sit in the dark twiddling your thumbs, or that you should walk miles to work everyday! Small lifestyle changes really do make a difference though. Turning off the lights if you aren’t using them, unplugging your electronics when they’re not in use, and walking instead of driving to the ice cream shop a few blocks down will only take a little bit of time, but doing so will save more energy than you think!

Turn to renewable energy:

Limiting your energy usage is good, but we all need energy to survive, right? There are several alternative energy sources that most people don’t employ, and a lot of people don’t even know about! Look into using wind, water, or solar power to decrease your need for combustible fuels.

Limit waste:

This means you should recycle, reduce, and reuse any chance you get! Reducing the amount of waste you produce and reusing products until you can’t anymore are best because there is no reproduction process involved. Recycling requires energy to break down and reproduce useful products, which isn’t ideal, but it still reduces the amount of waste sent to break down in landfills.