Greenhouse warming

Burning of any hydrocarbon (fossil fuel) or, for that matter, any organic material converts its carbon content to carbon dioxide and its hydrogen to water. Because power plants and other industries emit large amounts of carbon dioxide, they contribute to the so-called greenhouse warming effect on our planet, which causes significant en-... 

PVF film for pLUORJNE CO POUNDS, ORGANIC - POLY(VINYL FLUORIDE)] (Vol 11) Greenhouse warming potential (GWP)... 

Properties. The ideal substitute should have identical or better performance properties than the CFG it replaces. The ideal CFG substitute must not harm the o2one layer, and must have a short atmospheric lifetime to ensure a low greenhouse warming potential (GWP). It also must be nontoxic, nonflammable, thermally and chemically stable under normal use conditions, and manufacturable at a reasonable pnce. The chemical industry has found substitutes that match many but not all of these cntena. 

Kerr, R. A. (1995). Studies Say—Tentatively—That Greenhouse Warming is Here. Science 268 1567. 

Panel on Policy Implications of Greenhouse Warming of the National Academy of Sciences. (1992). Policy Imphcations of Greenhouse Wanning Mitigation, Adaptation, and the Science Base, Washington, DC National Academy Press. 

Lorius, C., Jouzel, J., Raynaud, D. et al. (1990). The ice-core record climate sensitivity and future greenhouse warming. Nature 347,139-145. 

Oceanic temperatures and levels are also rising (Levitus 2000). According to models, greenhouse warming is expected to cause a collapse in the Labrador Sea convection, with the consequence of a further rise in the sea level (IPCC 1995). 

Methane is removed continually from the atmosphere by reaction with OH radicals (Section 8.3). In contrast, chlorofluorocarbons and related volatile compounds are inert under the conditions of the lower atmosphere (troposphere), so atmospheric concentrations of these refrigerants and solvents will tend to increase as long as releases continue. The chief concern over chlorofluorocarbons is that they are a major factor in destruction of the stratospheric ozone layer (Section 8.3). They have been banned under the Montreal Protocol of 1988, but it is important that whatever substitutes (inevitably greenhouse active) are introduced to replace them degrade relatively quickly in the troposphere to minimize any contribution they may be capable of making to greenhouse warming. 

The concentration of nitrous oxide (N20) in the atmosphere is only about 0.30 ppm but it increases by about 0.2% per year and so is at least partly of anthropogenic origin. Nitrous oxide is a product of the degradation of nitrate fertilizers, but some 7 x 105 tonnes of N2O are released annually to the atmosphere during production of nylon.20 The residence time of N20 in the atmosphere is about 150 years, and it could in the future contribute up to 10% of the anticipated greenhouse warming. 

Nitrous oxide is nontoxic—it used as the propellant in whipped-cream spray cans—and so might seem to be an unlikely pollutant. However, as noted earlier, it may contribute significantly to greenhouse warming. Furthermore, on diffusing to the stratosphere, N20 becomes involved in the ozone cycle (reactions 8.2, 8.3, and 8.6) following its conversion to nitric oxide (NO) ... 

The aerosols of sulfuric acid so formed increase the reflectivity (albedo) of the Earth s atmosphere, cutting down the solar radiation that reaches the Earth s surface and so counteracting to some extent the greenhouse warming due to CO2 emissions that accompany the SO2, as mentioned earlier. Airborne sulfuric acid may be neutralized by traces of ammonia in the air, giving particulate NH4HSO4 and (NH4)2S04 hazes, but in the absence of such neutralization the aqueous sulfuric acid droplets in tropospheric clouds may reach pH 1.5 or lower. 

S. F. Singer, C. Starr, and R. Revelle, What To Do About Greenhouse Warming Look Before You Leap, Cosmos 1 (1991) 28-33. 

The late Professor Roger Revelle was a true and voluntary coauthor of the article entitled What To Do About Greenhouse Warming Look Before You Leap, along with Professor S. Fred Singer and Chauncey Starr, Ph.D. The article was published in April 1991 in the inaugural issue of Cosmos, the journal of the Cosmos Club of Washington, D.C. 

As power plant and other industries emit large amounts of carbon dioxide, they contribute to the so-called greenhouse warming effect of our planet which causes an... 

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