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Main Anthropogenic Sources of Greenhouse Gases ‐ Fossil Fuels

Content

• Main Anthropogenic Sources of Greenhouse Gases• Global GHG Emissions by Gas• Greenhouse Gas Emission by Economic Sectors• Global GHG Emissions by Source• Fossil Fuels• Oil• Coal• Natural Gas

Main Anthropogenic Sources of Greenhouse Gases• The main human sources of greenhouse gas emissions are:

• Fossil fuel use• Change and land use, deforestation• Agriculture• Fire• Intensive livestock farming• Use of synthetic fertilizers• Industrial processes• Refrigeration gases

Global GHG Emissions by Gas

• At the global scale, the key greenhouse gases emitted by human activities are:• Carbon dioxide (CO2) ‐ Fossil fuel use is the primary source of CO2. The way in which people use land is also an important source of CO2, especially when it involves deforestation. Land can also remove CO2from the atmosphere through reforestation, improvement of soils, and other activities.

• Methane (CH4) ‐ Agricultural activities, waste management, and energy use all contribute to CH4 emissions.

• Nitrous oxide (N2O) ‐ Agricultural activities, such as fertilizer use, are the primary source of N2O emissions.• Fluorinated gases (F‐gases) ‐ Industrial processes, refrigeration, and the use of a variety of consumer products contribute to emissions of F‐gases, which include hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6).

http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/global.html

Greenhouse Gas Emission by Economic Sectors

IPCC, WG3, AR5, Summary for Policymakers, Fig. SPM.2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gas

Global GHG Emissions by Source

• Global greenhouse gas emissions can also be broken down by the economic activities that lead to their production.• Energy Supply (25% of 2010 global greenhouse gas emissions) ‐ The burning of coal, natural gas, and oil for electricity and heat is the largest single source of global greenhouse gas emissions.

• Industry (21% of 2010 global greenhouse gas emissions) ‐ Greenhouse gas emissions from industry primarily involve fossil fuels burned on‐site at facilities for energy. This sector also includes emissions from chemical, metallurgical, and mineral transformation processes not associated with energy consumption. (Note: Emissions from electricity use are excluded and are instead covered in the Energy Supply sector.)



• Agriculture, Forestry, Other Land Use ‐ AFOLU (24% of 2010 global greenhouse gas emissions) ‐ Greenhouse gas emissions from this sector primarily include carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from deforestation, land clearing for agriculture, and fires or decay of peat soils. This estimate does not include the CO2 that ecosystems remove from the atmosphere. The amount of CO2 that is removed is subject to large uncertainty, although recent estimates indicate that on a global scale, ecosystems on land remove about twice as much CO2 as is lost by deforestation. Greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture mostly come from the management of agricultural soils, livestock, rice production, and biomass burning.



• Transportation (14% of 2010 global greenhouse gas emissions) ‐Greenhouse gas emissions from this sector primarily involve fossil fuels burned for road, rail, air, and marine transportation. Almost all (95%) of the world's transportation energy comes from petroleum‐based fuels, largely gasoline and diesel.

• Commercial and Residential Buildings (6.4% of 2010 global greenhouse gas emissions) ‐ Greenhouse gas emissions from this sector arise from on‐site energy generation and burning fuels for heat in buildings or cooking in homes. (Note: Emissions from electricity use are excluded and are instead covered in the Energy Supply sector.)

• Other Energy (9.6 % of 2010 global greenhouse gas emissions) – Include: Fuel combustion coke ovens, blast furnaces, other transformation sector.


Fossil Fuels

• Fossil fuels, including coal, oil and natural gas, are currently the world's primary energy source.

• Formed from organic material over the course of millions of years, fossil fuels have fueled the global economic development over the past century.

• Yet fossil fuels are finite resources and they can also irreparably harm the environment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaXBVYr9Ij0

Coal

• Coal is primarily used to generate electricity.• China is the global leader in coal production, responsible for almost 50 percent of world supply.

• The combustion of coal releases air pollutants such as acid rain‐inducing sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides (NOx), and mercury.

• The mining process can also be very damaging to the environment, often resulting in the destruction of vegetation and top‐soil.

• Rivers and streams can also be destroyed or contaminated by mine wastes.

Coal

• The premise of "clean coal" has recently been promoted as a way to use this abundant energy source without damaging the environment.

• Carbon capture and storage (CCS), where carbon is separated from coal and injected underground for long term storage, could theoretically be used to mitigate the coal industry's greenhouse gas emissions.

• However, CCS has yet to be proven as a safe or realistic way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from commercial power plants and the environmental and health costs of mining remain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylkdUuNOJzw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YHsxXEVB1M

Oil

• Oil is the world’s primary fuel source for transportation.• Most oil is pumped out of underground reservoirs, but it can also be found imbedded in shale and tar sands.

• Once extracted, crude oil is processed in oil refineries to create fuel oil, gasoline, liquefied petroleum gas, and other nonfuel products such as pesticides, fertilizers, pharmaceuticals, and plastics.

• Oil poses major environmental problems, and the world’s heavy reliance on it for transportation makes it difficult to reduce consumption.

Oil

• Besides the environmental degradation caused by oil spills and extraction, combustion of oil releases fine particulates which can lead to serious respiratory problems, and is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions.

• Heavier crude oils, especially those extracted from tar sands and shale, require the use of energy intensive methods that result in more emissions and environmental degradation compared to conventional oil.

• As conventional oil from underground reservoirs runs out, more oil producers are turning to unconventional sources such as tar sands and oil shale.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8W8SW98‐sXQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4R0GJ6GB0Q

Natural Gas

• Natural gas is used as a transportation fuel, typically for bus fleets.

• Natural gas is also used to produce fertilizer, paints, and plastics.

• Natural gas is most commonly transported by pipeline, which makes Canada the key exporter to the United States, while Russia remains the main supplier for much of Europe.

• Increasingly, however, natural gas is being transported by ship in a liquefied form (LNG) to meet greater global demand for the fuel.

Natural Gas

• Natural gas burns cleaner than coal and oil, with almost zero sulfur dioxide emissions and far fewer nitrogen oxide and particulate emissions.

• Natural gas releases almost 30 percent less carbon dioxide than oil and 43 percent less than coal.

• Natural gas, which is primarily composed of methane (CH4), is also generated by the decomposition of municipal waste in landfills and manure from livestock production.

• Methane is a greenhouse gas that is more than 20 times as potent as carbon dioxide.

• Capturing and burning the gas to produce usable heat and power prevents the methane from being released from the landfill or feedlot into the atmosphere directly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8EHHW‐3N5Y

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9MayBUgSHI

Main Anthropogenic Sources of Greenhouse Gases‐ Fossil Fuels

main anthropogenic sources of greenhouse gases …...main anthropogenic sources of greenhouse gases...

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