Climate change caused by the enhanced greenhouse effect is one of the most significant global environmental issues. Increased emissions of GHG to the atmosphere, most notably CO2 , are considered the main cause of global climate change. Increasing energy consumption, a reliance on fossil fuels to meet these needs, and deforestation related to land use change are the main sources of increasing atmospheric CO2. (more…)
It is of interest to examine potential sources of greenhouse gases sources or atmospheric CO2 by analysis of the global distribution of carbon in all its forms. Atmospheric carbon, which can be assumed to be essentially all in the form of CO2 (i.e., 700 Gt carbon equals 2570 Gt of CO2) comprises only about 1.6% of total global carbon, excluding lithospheric carbon. Obvious greenhouse gases sources of direct or indirect additions of CO2 to the atmosphere are therefore fossil fuel deposits, since portions of them are combusted each year as fuels, and terrestrial biomass. (more…)