Question

What are the two main problems or concerns if we simply burn chemical fossil fuels (including coal, oil and natural gases) to obtain energy? . List two key or most well-known green-house gases. Briefly explain how the green house gases would result to ‘global warming’. List the top or most wellknown problem or consequence of ‘global warming’.

Answer 1

All fossil fuels contain large amounts of carbon; here we need talk about the term "carbon footprint" used to describe the relative amount of fossil fuels being used by a given sector, piece of equipment or community. Fossil fuels also contain substantial amounts of the elements hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur. The primary pollutants released from the burning of fossil fuels are carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO₂), sulfur dioxide (SO₂), nitrogen oxides of the chemical form NO_x (primarily nitrogen dioxide, or NO₂), nitric oxide (N₂O), various hydrocarbons (methane, CH₄, being one such example) and substances collectively termed volatile organic compounds, others such as H2S (coming from gas production) are hazardous in their native forms; others are especially damaging only after they combine with other otherwise benign reagents in the atmosphere.

By far the most concerning and talked-about of these compounds is CO₂. Because carbon accounts from between 60 to 90 percent of the mass of the fossil fuels burned, CO₂ is the principal product of the combustion of fossil fuels worldwide. China has become the largest emitter of CO₂ on the planet, with total mass reaching 8.32 billion metric tons in 2010

CO₂ receives the bulk of the attention as a greenhouse gas, but CH₄ is actually a more potent greenhouse gas, molecule per molecule, than CO₂ is