The Top 5 Global Warming Gases – In Ascending Order

While there are thousands of different global warming gases, some are definitely worse than others in terms of their contribution to climate change. While it’s impossible to list them all here, we can look at the top five most prevalent gases to give you an idea of how bad things really are. Here’s the top five global warming gases in ascending order of volume produced per year.

1) Water vapor

Water vapor is the most prevalent global warming gas, constituting a staggering 90% of all GHG emissions.

However, it is also the least powerful GHG when considering its ability to trap heat energy.

This means that while water vapor can be used as an indicator for climate change, it does not pose as great a threat to our environment as other gases such as methane and nitrous oxide.

Water vapor is produced by natural processes and human activities alike.

The natural process of evaporation causes water molecules in liquid form to separate from the liquid body of water they originated from and become part of the atmosphere.

Humans produce this gas when we exhale: through breathing out carbon dioxide mixed with oxygen, we release large amounts of water vapor into the air around us.

2) Carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide is the most prevalent global warming gas.

It accounts for about one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions from human activities, and its atmospheric concentration has increased by more than 25% since the preindustrial era.

Carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere through deforestation, fossil fuel combustion, and industrial activity.

When emitted in high concentrations in cities, it acts as a major heat-absorbing greenhouse gas (in contrast to Earth’s blue shield, the natural ozone layer).

Methane: The second most prevalent global warming gas is methane.

Its atmospheric concentration has also increased dramatically over the past century due to anthropogenic activities such as cattle farming and extraction of natural gas (it’s commonly used as a fuel).

Nitrous oxide: Nitrous oxide ranks third on our list of top five global warming gases.

Its atmospheric concentration has grown significantly in the past 100 years due to agriculture, land use changes such as deforestation or irrigation,

burning fossil fuels and solid waste like coal mining or tobacco smoking that generates nitrous oxide when soils are exposed to air.

3) Methane

Methane is the second most prevalent global warming gas in the atmosphere. traps heat about 21 times more effectively than CO2 over a 100-year period, and 72 times more effectively over a 20-year period. Methane emissions come primarily from agriculture and the production of fossil fuels. It accounts for about 10% of total global emissions, with human sources accounting for 60% and natural sources accounting for 40%.

4) Nitrous oxide

Nitrous oxide is a colorless, odorless gas. It is emitted from both natural and human activities. Nitrous oxide is a by-product of fertilizer use, biomass burning, industrial processes such as fossil fuel combustion and nuclear power generation, and other sources. The atmospheric lifetime of nitrous oxide is 115 years with a global warming potential 310 times that of carbon dioxide over 100 years.
Nitrous oxide has the second highest global warming potential after carbon dioxide among all the greenhouse gases considered in this report.

5) Chlorofluorocarbons

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are a type of chemical that was once used as a refrigerant. They have the ability to break down and release chlorine atoms which in turn destroy the ozone layer. The ozone layer is essential for life on Earth because it blocks out harmful UV rays from the sun, which can cause skin cancer and other diseases. CFCs are also greenhouse gases, meaning they trap heat in our atmosphere, which then contributes to global warming.
Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are another type of gas that were first developed as replacements for CFCs but we now know they can be just as harmful.

Conclusion

While there are many global warming gases, the ones listed above are the worst offenders. Here is a list of the top 5 global warming gases in ascending order:
1) nitrous oxide; 2) methane; 3) sulfur hexafluoride; 4) hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs); and 5) perfluorocarbons (PFCs). When you find out which gas is most prevalent in your area, you can take steps to reduce its use. For example, if your area has a high level of methane, switch to a natural gas provider. If your home’s appliances use HFCs or PFCs, replace them with more environmentally-friendly options.