Carbon Dioxide

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About Carbon Dioxide:

It is a colourless gas having a faint sharp odour and a sour taste.
It is an important heat-trapping gas, also known as a greenhouse gas.
It comes from the extraction and burning of fossil fuels (such as coal, oil, and natural gas), from wildfires, and natural processes like volcanic eruptions.
It is one of the most important greenhouse gas (GHG) in the atmosphere and is the primary driver of anthropogenic climate change.
The presence of the gas in the atmosphere keeps some of the radiant energy received by Earth from being returned to space, thus producing the so-called greenhouse effect.
Carbon dioxide is used as a refrigerant, in fire extinguishers, for inflating life rafts and life jackets, blasting coal, foaming rubber and plastics, promoting the growth of plants in greenhouses, immobilizing animals before slaughter, and in carbonated beverages.
Studies have shown that CO2 has contributed more than any driver to climate change.
- It is much more abundant in the atmosphere compared to CH4 and HFCs.
- CO2 remains in the atmosphere longer than the other major GHGs emitted due to human activities.
- After a pulse of CO2 is emitted into the atmosphere, 40% will remain in the atmosphere for 100 years and 20% will reside for 1000 years, while the final 10% will take 10,000 years to turn over,” a report by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), a US-based non-profit organisation