Carbon Di Oxide Emissions – Some facts and statistics

We have all been talking about solar energy and the various solar energy advantages. But we know that one of the single reasons why many people are looking to switch to solar energy or other renewable sources of energy is because of the heavy carbon di oxide emissions. So here are some facts and statistics about carbon di oxide and why it is needed along with harmful to us human beings and the planet if produced in excess.


The basic physical state of carbon di oxide is as a gas. But, there are also liquid and solid forms of carbon di oxide. Carbon di oxide turns solid when the temperature drops below -78 C. It is also called as "dry ice" in this solid form.


Carbon di oxide emissions are also considered vital for the life cycle as not only human beings but also plants and trees depend heavily on it for respiration and for other purposes such as metabolism.


Human beings do activities that release carbon di oxide in many ways. It can be from something as respiration to soft drinks that humans drink such as coke or beer. The fizz that is produced upon opening a soda bottle is due to the carbon di oxide. Other places where carbon di oxide is used a lot is in fire extinguishers. It is also used a lot in baking powder especially when many baked products are required to be fluffy and tasty to eat.
Carbon di oxide is also used to prepare coffee. The caffeine in coffee is prepared with applications from carbon di oxide. If you have seen many of these performances on stage, you will see the white smoke kind of substances rising at the bottom. That is also with the help of carbon di oxide although from the solid form called as "dry ice".


Now let's get to the carbon di oxide emissions part and how it affects our environment. If you consider the distribution of various gases in our atmosphere, you will notice that Nitrogen gas is way ahead with about 70% in the air and Oxygen comes in at second with around 21%. After that and rising everyday due to various are the carbon di oxide emissions although it does not occupy a significant percentage in the composition of gases. However, carbon di oxide plays an extremely vital role in plants in that they use it for important processes such as photosynthesis and respiration.


Photosynthesis is where solar energy is used as a catalyst in a chemical reaction which is used to convert carbon di oxide and other gases from the atmosphere to glucose which is basically nothing but energy which the plants use to survive.
According to Wikipedia, "the general equation for photosynthesis is 2n CO₂ + 2n H₂O + photons → 2(CH₂O)_n + n O₂ + 2n A"




Carbon dioxide emissions from human activities
As humans have been advancing in technology and other fields of manufacturing over the past couple of centuries starting from the Industrial Revolution in the 18^th Century, there has been a lot of carbon di oxide emissions because of them. This has resulted in the percentage of carbon di oxide emissions in the air increasing at an alarming rate. It has been scientifically proven that the concentration of carbon di oxide has risen from 280 ppm in 1850 to 364 ppm in 1997. This may not sound like much, but it is indeed a huge amount of increase especially when considered from the point of view of a environmentalist. Also, the fact that it has not increased by as much from the past thousands of years as fast as it has been increasing in the past couple of decades shows that it is indeed due to human activities.
Fossil fuels, are a huge contributing factor to carbon di oxide emissions and this has further been affected by other factors such as deforestration and heavy automobile usage by human beings. The production of various factories and other similar factors has made it a very threatening factor for the environment and for the planet as well. More than 1/4^th of the carbon di oxide concentrations today are due to human activities.


The effects of carbon dioxide emissions – The green house effect
Near the troposphere part of our atmosphere, there are greenhouse gases whose main function is to capture the heat from the sun so that the earth is kept warm during the night times. This is called as the greenhouse effect and and an exaggeration results in global warming which as we all know is a serious problem for most humans. It is also important as if not because of the greenhouse effect, we would all be in ice right now i.e. life would not have been possible. The more the gases such as CFC (Chloro Fluoro Carbons) and Carbon Dioxide are emitted, the more it will result in the earth getting unusually warmed up thus causing a huge problem for the planet Earth.

This is the basic summary of what solar energy advantages if properly made use of, can help us humans by helping in getting rid of these harmful gases such as carbon di oxide and other gases such as methane which are equally if not, more harmful. Using renewable energy sources in an efficient manner can significantly help in cutting the costs for purchasing automobiles such as cars and motor vehicles. This is especially important in developing countries such as China and India which are increasing their carbon di oxide emissions at a really alarming rate which does not look healthy as well as the people there are getting richer and are buying more expensive vehicles which emit a lot of greenhouse gases thus contributing in the degradation of the environment. The United States also, of course has the highest per capita carbon di oxide emission which is pretty bad news. So switch to solar energy and make a difference.
To a greener future,
Andy.