Coal

The highest energy content fuel is hydrogen, which is also the simplest chemical component in existence. Gasoline, which is derived from refining crude oil, contains much more energy than coal (twice than the lower grade bituminous) or wood (three times).

Main sources of carbon dioxide emissions

• 87 percent of all human-produced carbon dioxide emissions come from the burning of fossil fuels like coal, natural gas and oil.
• The largest human source of carbon dioxide emissions is from the combustion of fossil fuels.

Global carbon (C) emissions from fossil fuel use were 9.795 gigatonnes (Gt) in 2014 (or 35.9 GtCO2 of carbon dioxide). Fossil fuel emissions were 0.6% above emissions in 2013 and 60% above emissions in 1990 (the reference year in the Kyoto Protocol).

Electricity and Heat Production (25% of 2010 global greenhouse gas emissions): The burning of coal, natural gas, and oil for electricity and heat is the largest single source of global greenhouse gas emissions.

So breathe easy. The average human exhales about 2.3 pounds of carbon dioxide on an average day. (The exact quantity depends on your activity level—a person engaged in vigorous exercise produces up to eight times as much CO2 as his sedentary brethren.)

Myth: Carbon dioxide comes only from anthropogenic sources, especially from the burning of fossil fuels. Reality: Carbon dioxide comes from both natural and anthropogenic sources; natural sources are predominant.

1) Forests Photosynthesis removes carbon dioxide naturally — and trees are especially good at storing carbon removed from the atmosphere by photosynthesis.

Between 1910 and 1940, for example, there was a warming trend in the winter, a season when plants do not grow. The same principle is true for rainfall. Plants absorb carbon dioxide from the air as they grow, and store it in their leaves, stems, and trunks. Even after the plants die, carbon can be stored in the soil.

Other strong bases such as soda lime, sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, and lithium hydroxide are able to remove carbon dioxide by chemically reacting with it. In particular, lithium hydroxide was used aboard spacecraft, such as in the Apollo program, to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Here are some of our top picks.

• American Sweetgum Tree. Storage Capacity: 380 pounds of CO2 per year*
• Eucalyptus Tree. Storage Capacity: 70 pounds of CO2 per year*
• European Beech Tree.
• Laurel Oak Tree.
• London Plane Tree.
• Red Mulberry Tree.
• Silver Maple Tree.
• Yellow Poplar (aka Tulip Tree)

1. Aloe Vera. Whenever a list of plants with benefits is made, Aloe Vera tops the charts always. Listed as one of the plants improving the air of NASA, Aloe Vera emits oxygen at night and increases the longevity of your life.

Top 5 Plants for Increasing Oxygen

• Areca Palm. As with all plants, the Areca Palm is biologically engineered to take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen.
• Snake Plant a.k.a. Mother-In-Law’s Tongue.
• Money Plant.
• Gerbera Daisy (Gerbera Jamesonii)
• Chinese Evergreens.
• 4 Fun Fall Activities COPD Patients Can Enjoy.

City Tree, developed by German scientists, is all about an attentive, shrewd and smart kind of moss. This plant is capable of devouring harmful nitrogen dioxide and carbon dioxide particles, while generating oxygen and cooling the air surrounding it.

The moss acts to filter out particulate matter, absorb CO2 and remove soot, dirt, and other pollutants. The use of moss, which hosts bacteria, both work to absorb particulate matter in the range of 0.1 microns to 10 microns.

Unlikely, since trees generally provide much more photosynthesizing biomass per unit of land area despite having non-photosynthesizing wood. -Oxygen produced globally? Highly unlikely since moss-dominated ecosystems occupy far less land than tree-dominated ecosystems.

Algae, when used in conjunction with AI-powered bioreactors, is up to 400 times more efficient than a tree at removing CO2 from the atmosphere. Trees “consume” it as part of their photosynthesis process by “absorbing” carbon into their trunks and roots and releasing oxygen back into the air.

about 0.04%

When trees pull carbon out of the atmosphere, they store it as wood. So if you’re trying to figure out which trees to plant on your property, consider a fast-growing tree species, like maple, oak or catalpa.

When carbon dioxide CO2 is released into the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels, approximately 50% remains in the atmosphere, while 25% is absorbed by land plants and trees, and the other 25% is absorbed into certain areas of the ocean.

Researchers from the University of California, Davis have found that grasslands and rangelands are better carbon sinks than forests in present-day California. Trees store much of their carbon within their leave and woody biomass, while grass stores most of its carbon underground.

The oceans absorb a third of humanity’s carbon dioxide emissions and 90 percent of the excess heat generated by increased greenhouse gas emissions; it’s the largest carbon sink on the planet.

39,000 GtC (gigatonnes of carbon) currently reside in the oceans while only 750 GtC are in the atmosphere. Of the 1300 Gt carbon dioxide from anthropogenic emissions over the last 200 years, about 38% of that has already gone into the oceans.

Carbon dioxide and seawater Carbon dioxide, which is naturally in the atmosphere, dissolves into seawater. Water and carbon dioxide combine to form carbonic acid (H2CO3), a weak acid that breaks (or “dissociates”) into hydrogen ions (H+) and bicarbonate ions (HCO3-).

Normally, ocean water is less acidic than fresh water. Unfortunately, as the ocean absorbs more and more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, it becomes more acidic. However, when the ocean absorbs a lot of CO2, the water becomes more acidic.

Carbon dioxide is naturally stored in the ocean through chemical processes, either as a dissolved gas or, over a longer time scale, as carbonate sediments on the seafloor. It transports CO2 from the atmosphere to the deep ocean, where it will eventually wind-up anyways, and do less harm.

The ocean, atmosphere, soil and forests are the world’s largest carbon sinks. Protecting these vital ecosystems is essential for tackling climate change and keeping our climate stable. But they’re increasingly under threat. The world’s forests absorb 2.6bn tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.

The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged among five spheres of the Earth, carbon (C) sinks: the biosphere, pedosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere (These are not mutually exclusive, see Glossary).

Oceans act as a heat sink, as they react slower and with less a temperature change than land masses do. The temperature distribution of the waters on Earth is efficiently monitored from space by remote sensing Earth observation satellites.