Page 4 - Environmental_Climat change

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Chapter 1 Greenhouse gases

1.1 What are greenhouse gases?

Greenhouse gases are components of the earth’s atmosphere. They have physicochemical properties that
allow them to retain solar energy in the Earth’s atmosphere. Greenhouse gases absorb infrared radiation
from the planet and are therefore considered to have a direct impact on the greenhouse effect.

Greenhouse gases occur in the atmosphere both as a result of natural processes and in connection with
human activity. Greenhouse gases affect the greenhouse effect in different ways and have an impact:

• Absorption rate, i.e. the ability of a substance to absorb infrared radiation
• The lifetime of this substance in the atmosphere.

These factors also determine the global warming potential (GWP), in other words, they determine the
potential for creating the greenhouse effect. The determination of this indicator depends on the amount of
heat absorbed by a given gas of a certain weight. It is then compared with the amount of heat that
a substance absorbs through the same mass of carbon dioxide. The GWP for carbon dioxide is 1 and from it
the GWP for other substances is calculated.