Besides cars, what ELSE produces the most greenhouse gases?

Question

I know that cars pollute the environment, but besides that, what OTHER things pollute the environment and CAUSE GREENHOUSE GASES?

I heard that factories and buildings produce these pollutants; so WHICH companies are doing this??? What the h**l are they making in those factories?? They must be making SOMETHING that we use; so what it is?

Answer 1

Yeah Niko , those "evil" coal plants provide us with about half of our electricity needs . Would you prefer we return to life as it was in the 1800's . I bet the answer to that is...YES !

Answer 2

The oceans are the number one contributor to green house gases in the world.

We need to dry up the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian and Arctic oceans now. They are going to burn us alive.

Answer 3

-my farts

-your farts

-man's farts

-cow farts

-sheep farts

-any kind of flatulence

-Al Gore's farts

Let's stop farting!!!

Answer 4

I'll just give some examples by gas:

CO2

As mentioned, power plants are a huge contributor.

Deforestation for agriculture and development.

There are also lots of non-energy uses of fuels that produce co2, like making asphalt for roads and the commonly used process for laying it down in the US. Also plastics and other things made from oil generally produce co2.

Tons and tons of industrial process produce co2. Any metals production, including iron and steel, zinc, lead, aluminum, etc. (the co2 is released at multiple points in the process, mostly from the smelting, you should google it to learn more).

Producing ammonia and urea releases co2, as does using limestone and producing lime.

Manufacturing soda ash produces co2.

All the products I'm mentioning are used in a wide variety of every day things, go ahead and check some of them out on your own.

N2O (nitrous oxide)

Also produced by fuel burning. A big source of this is the use of nitrogen fertilizer in agriculture. (the biggest source by far)

It's also produced by catalytic converters in cars and other automobiles.

Human sewage is a big source.

When we burn garbage.

A variety of industrial sources produce small amounts. Like the production and use of nitric acid.

(A small note, but nitrous oxide is about 200 times more potent as a greenhouse gas then co2)

CH4 (methane)

Methane is produced by landfills and livestock, especially cows.

Also in other countries rice cultivation produces methane.

(Methane is about 25 times worse then co2, but present in much lower concnetrations)

HFCs, PFCs, SF6

The first two of these are man made replacement gases meant to make CFCs obselete (you've probably heard of CFCs before). These are produced during aluminum smelting, and they're used during different kinds of electronics manufacturing. Also in the nuclear industry during uranium enrichment. They're used in refrigeration, also for blowing foam and insulation, and as solvents and cleaning agents. SF6 is used for insulating high voltage equipment and cable cooling systems.

(These last three gases are by far the lowest in terms of volume, but in terms of global warming potential, they are all about 10,000 times worse then co2, SF6 is 25,000 times worse)

I hope some of this helped. It's a very in depth and complicated issue which can be difficult to understand without a science background. I just want to mention one thing, there is widespread scientific concensus that our actions are contributing to climate change. People who tell you it isn't real have no idea what they are talking about. There is no controversy on this issue among the scientific community, it is widely accepted.

Answer 5

Electric power generation produces more CO2 than transportation. In that sector, coal-fired powerplants are the biggest contributor.

Answer 6

The number one polluter of the environment is not the car at all.  It's Al Gore and all the rest of the libs.  What a bunch of whacko's.

Answer 7

I believe the lies Al Gore spews from his 'full of c**p' mouth is first in line.   The hypocrite uses more power in his local Tennessee home (one of many) than 17 houses of a normal family.  OH, I forgot, he went green.  After adding all the solar panels and the like to 'lessen his usage' from the grid... his recent power bills have gone THROUGH THE ROOF...  this is all public information here in Tn.   HE IS INSANE AND SO ARE ANY PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE IN GLOBAL WARMING, especially if they think man caused it or can change it.. IT IS A SNAKE OIL SCAM...FOOLS.

CO2 IS NOT POISON!!!!!

Answer 8

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en...

^man made CO2

It's important to note that, while many natural sources (i.e. animals, volcanoes, etc.) emit CO2, these emissions are countered by natural 'sinks.' Man made emissions are not; therein lies the problem.

Answer 9

Cars are a "minor" component--

"CO2 emission road transport contributes globally about 10%"

Here is the article:

http://www.sae.org/technical/papers/2001...

and another that shows the math--

http://www.geocraft.com/WVFossils/greenh...

Answer 10

Sulfuric acid is much worse than CO2. This is purged or vented from many industrial chemical processes, but will also seep from old, improperly discarding old wet-cell batteries.

Answer 11

The oceans, volcanic activity and forest fires are the biggest source of greenhouse gases.  Cars produce very little in comparison.  The most abundant greenhouse gas in the atmosphere (>90% of the total) is water vapour.

Answer 12

MAN HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH GLOBAL WARMING!

We have fat to little impact on the earth do a little research and you will find out the truth!

Global warming and greenhouse gases are all lies made up.

Right now over 100,000 jobs are based   on global warming so they must come up with stuff to keep money flowing into that field

Answer 13

Power generation.  Especially evil is coal fired power plants.  

Power plants are a major source of air pollution, with coal-fired power plants spewing 59% of total U.S. sulfur dioxide pollution and 18% of total nitrogen oxides every year.   Coal-fired power plants are also the largest polluter of toxic mercury pollution, largest contributor of hazardous air toxics, and release about 50% of particle pollution.  Additionally, power plants release over 40% of total U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, a prime contributor to global warming.

Answer 14

Al Gore's speeches?

Answer 15

Animals and this includes humans.  Do you realize that every single animal that breathes oxygen, also exhales carbon?  Do you also realize that our engines run around the clock?  Unlike cars, we animals never stop producing carbon.  Carbon as a greenhouse gas is a joke!  Wake up to the hoax!