What are greenhouse gases?
The experiments in 1850 by Eunice Newton Foote, an amateur scientist, changed our way of understanding climate and the planet according to the excellent BBVA scientific document on the Planet>Caring for the Environment that I transcribe almost literally given its enormous importance and scientific clarity. She was a woman not associated with large academic institutions, but she discovered that each of the gases that make up the atmosphere retains energy in a different way. He discovered greenhouse gases or greenhouse gases.
That something he discovered was, above all, carbon dioxide (CO2) and water vapor. Shortly after, John Tyndall, proved that Foote was right and added ozone to the set of greenhouse gases. Tyndall, this time yes, he was heard. At the end of the 19th century, Svante Arrhenius linked the burning of coal (the industrial age was already in full swing) with the increase in CO2. And he predicted a likely rise in temperatures of up to 4°C if the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere doubled, when no one was talking about climate change yet. The rest belongs to history.
“It is important to highlight that greenhouse gases are not polluting gases, they are basic components of the atmosphere,” said José María Baldasano, Emeritus Professor of Environmental Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. “They are gases that retain part of the infrared radiation that the Earth emits after being heated by the Sun, that is, gases that retain energy in the atmosphere. What has happened in the last two centuries is that human activity has increased its concentration”. The emission of greenhouse gases through industrial activities and, above all, the burning of fossil fuels, has multiplied by 100 the rate of increase of these gases in the atmosphere in the last 60 years. As a result, the planetary average temperature has risen 1.1 °C since the beginning of the 20th century. In turn, all this excess energy is causing climate change and multiplying the recurrence and intensity of extreme weather events.
What are greenhouse gases?
“The planet has a radioactive balance, a balance between the amount of energy it receives and the amount of energy it emits back to the outside in the form of infrared radiation. Greenhouse gases trap part of this terrestrial infrared”, added Baldasano. If the concentration of these gases increases, the accumulated energy increases and the whole system tries to readjust until a new equilibrium is reached. In the process, everything changes.
1.- CO2: It is the main culprit of climate change. Carbon dioxide is an important greenhouse gas. It is not the most powerful, but it is one of the most concentrated and remains in the atmosphere for the longest time (its half-life is about 1000 years). “The combustion of coal first, with the start of the industrial revolution in 1750, and of oil and gas later, generates a large amount of CO2 and water. In addition, another human activity that emits CO2 significantly is the preparation of cement”, explained José María Baldasano. Taking into account its greenhouse effect potential, CO2 is the protagonist of 74% of the
emissions that are causing anthropogenic climate change.
2.- METHANE: beyond livestock. Methane (CH4) has received a lot of attention in recent years. Its greenhouse effect potential is very high (it is 25 times more powerful than CO2), but its life is much shorter, about 10 years. Furthermore, on Earth it occurs naturally, through anaerobic decomposition (in the absence of oxygen) in wetlands, forest fires (in which human activity also plays a role) and digestion by ruminants (both wild and domestic).
Even so, there are uniquely human sources of methane emission. According to the data provided by Baldasano, around 18% of methane is emitted in oil and gas extraction facilities, while 17% is emitted by ruminants (both in livestock farms and naturally). The cultivation of rice, the most consumed cereal in the world, is responsible for 10% of the emissions, and the decomposition of garbage in landfills emits 7% of the total.
3.- NITROUS OXIDE AND FLUORINATED GASES: powerful, but scarce. N2O and fluorinated gases are two other gases with an important greenhouse effect. The first of these, nitrous oxide, is produced both naturally and artificially. Its half-life in the atmosphere is just over a century, but its greenhouse effect potential is 300 times that of CO2. Even so, globally, it accounts for less than 6% of all emissions. While 40% of these are generated naturally in soil fertilization processes and 20% are emitted from the oceans, the remaining 40% is of human origin (especially in the artificial fertilization of agricultural fields).
As for fluorinated gases, their origin is exclusively human. They are used, above all, to replace chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) that have been withdrawn from the market because they cause the destruction of the ozone layer. All fluorinated gases (including some CFCs still in use) account for around 2% of total greenhouse gas emissions. Luckily they are few, because the warming potential of some of them multiplies up to 22,000 times that of CO2.
And what about the water vapor?
Both Eunice Foote and Tyndall pointed to CO2, but also to water vapour. In fact, it is estimated that H2O vapor is responsible for 60% of the terrestrial greenhouse effect. However, it does not control the Earth’s temperature directly, but rather the other way around: its concentration in the atmosphere depends on how hot it is on the planet. In addition, it is part of the water cycle and its concentrations change rapidly depending on the air and surface temperature. That is, its useful life in the atmosphere is very short.
“Water vapor is an important greenhouse gas, but it does not accumulate, since it is part of the planet’s hydrological cycle,” says José María Baldasano. “The problem is that, by heating the atmosphere, the air admits more humidity. It is estimated that the increase of one degree in the average temperature of the planet has caused the water content in the atmosphere to have increased by 7%, feeding back the greenhouse effect”.
There are other greenhouse gases such as molecular hydrogen (H2) or ozone (O3). The latter is quite powerful (about 1000 times CO2), but its life is short. In addition, it is generated naturally in the stratosphere and provides us with a very important service: it forms a protective layer that protects life on Earth from most of the harmful radiation that comes from the Sun, such as UV rays. Monitoring greenhouse gases is of great importance for reducing pollutants and avoiding global warming.
industrial emissions
Agriculture and livestock represent 14% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions are caused by food production, enteric fermentation, which is a process that takes place in the digestive tract of certain animals such as cows and horses, organic animal waste and waste, and change in use from the earth.
Methane is a gas that is emitted from farms. Reduces the energy of cattle that is lost in the diet. It is estimated that between 2 and 12% of energy is lost through methane respiration by animals. A reduction of this gas optimizes energy efficiency and reduces the impact of livestock on greenhouse gas emissions. The cow’s diet can reduce the emission of this gas, not only with diet control but with other strategies and technical actions such as those implemented by our company that we explain later, methane, which is a short-lived climate pollutant, can be reduced.
There is an FAO Report that proposes “Livestock solutions to climate change.” MAPA has numerous publications on “livestock and the environment” and the European Union has “Standards, Directives and Protocols for emissions and controls of livestock pollution”. There is something inescapable and indisputable: Livestock, today, is key and fundamental for food security. Meat, milk and eggs provide high protein, vitamins, and basic micronutrients necessary and essential for our development and the health of humanity.
The animals also generate a manure compost that contains essential nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, essential for the growth of trees, plants, food production and, some, such as cow and horse, are excellent raw materials. as biofuels.
The FAO states that a 30% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is possible through productive technical systems of good practices that are barely used by 10% of farmers. The United Nations Environment Program recently announced that global emissions must be reduced at a rate of 7.6% each year. If achieved for a decade, global warming could be kept below 1.5 degrees Celsius, according to The Food Tech. Low-carbon livestock production is possible. But the decision to implement actions to curb emissions must be much faster and more decisive due to the strong growth of the livestock sector. There must be political will in Spain and in the European Union for reduction because there are effective solutions to improve productivity at reasonable prices and a better integration of livestock into the circular economy.
Source: FAO
Achieving carbon neutrality is one of the most important challenges of this century. For this, it is important to rethink livestock businesses and activities so that they are more efficient and profitable, while having less impact on the environment in which they are carried out. There are more developed countries that are already changing their business models and working to achieve carbon neutrality.
Source: Freepik
The agri-food sector is making slow progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and will not reach the targets set by the European Union. All the data indicates that a reduction target of 29% will be reached, but it is still far from the 38% that was established in the UN Paris Agreements from 2015 to 2030. Here, the global commitments were established with the reduction goals of their emissions.
In the white pig sector, the reduction of emissions and the use of renewable energies are two of the pillars of the industry’s commitment to sustainability. The pig sector committed to achieving climate neutrality by 2050 and shares the objectives of the European Green Pact.
The model of a linear fossil fuel economy is environmentally unsustainable and is running out. For the implementation of a new circular economy model, the public and private sectors must reinvent themselves to generate sustainable employment and wealth. And the livestock sector must be restructured in respect for the environment with technical means at reasonable prices like the ones we propose here. You will earn more money and save a lot of time by innovating. To think about development in a circular way, man must be the fundamental axis of a sustainable reactivation that leads us to a new society of respect and care for the environment in which we live.
Leaving a cleaner and more habitable planet as an inheritance is an ethical and moral obligation. At DEYMA we demonstrate after years of R+D+i that the circular economy is the only viable option to build a spiritual, social, economic and environmentally profitable model. As we say on this website, the circular economy extracts, produces, consumes, reuses, and recycles products. The resources are kept in the economic cycle for as long as possible and the residues are reused as raw material for the agricultural and livestock sector. We achieve that cow manure, horse manure, goats, sheep, and camels are recoverable by-products in the market and that the growth of the sector is done in a more sustainable way. We influence the reduction of the negative environmental impact of slurry
Source: UGR Entrepreneur