Energy & Green Tech

Study finds heat pumps more efficient than gas or oil

As the year 2030 approaches, governments and industry leaders are actively studying ways to meet a European climate law aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55%. The European Green Deal initiative has set ...

Energy & Green Tech

U.S. renewable electricity surpassed coal in 2022

Electricity generated from renewables surpassed coal in the United States for the first time in 2022, the U.S. Energy Information Administration announced Monday.

Energy & Green Tech

Nuclear industry hopes to expand output with new reactors

The U.S. nuclear industry is generating less electricity as reactors retire, but now plant operators are hoping to nearly double their output over the next three decades, according to the industry's trade association.

Energy & Green Tech

Touted as clean, 'blue' hydrogen may be worse than gas, coal

"Blue" hydrogen—an energy source that involves a process for making hydrogen by using methane in natural gas—is being lauded as a clean, green energy to help reduce global warming. But Cornell and Stanford University ...

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Greenhouse gas

Greenhouse gases are gases in an atmosphere that absorb and emit radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. Common greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere include water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. In our solar system, the atmospheres of Venus, Mars and Titan also contain gases that cause greenhouse effects. Greenhouse gases greatly affect the temperature of the Earth; without them, Earth's surface would be on average about 33°C (59°F) colder than at present.

Human activities since the start of the industrial era around 1750 have increased the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The 2007 assessment report compiled by the IPCC observed that "changes in atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases and aerosols, land cover and solar radiation alter the energy balance of the climate system", and concluded that "increases in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations is very likely to have caused most of the increases in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century".

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA