GreenHouse Effect & its Benefits

Greenhouse Effect

There are two meanings of the term "greenhouse effect". There is a "natural" greenhouse effect that keeps the Earth's climate warm and habitable. There is also the "man-made" greenhouse effect, which is the enhancement of Earth's natural greenhouse effect by the addition of greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels (mainly petroleum, coal, and natural gas).

 In order to understand how the greenhouse effect operates, we need to first understand "infrared radiation". Greenhouse gases trap some of the infrared radiation that escapes from the Earth, making the Earth warmer that it would otherwise be. You can think of greenhouse gases as sort of a "blanket" for infrared radiation-- it keeps the lower layers of the atmosphere warmer, and the upper layers colder, than if the greenhouse gases were not there.

 About 80-90% of the Earth's natural greenhouse effect is due to water vapor, a strong greenhouse gas. The remainder is due to carbon dioxide, methane, and a few other minor gases.

 It is the carbon dioxide concentration that is increasing, due to the burning of fossil fuels (as well as from some rainforest burning). This is the man-made portion of the greenhouse effect, and it is believed by many scientists to be responsible for the global warming of the last 150 years.

Benefits of Greenhouse effect

The presence of carbon dioxide and other gases in the atmosphere produces the greenhouse effect, which keeps the atmosphere warm. The warm atmosphere is very essential for the survival of life on Earth in the following ways:

• Precipitation of water, formation of clouds, and rainfall etc. life in the biosphere depend on these resources.

• The warm atmosphere helps in the growth of vegetation and forest etc. These are sources of food, shelter etc.

• This effect helps in rapid bio-degradation of dead plants and animals.

These are the benefits of the greenhouse effect.

 It is becoming apparent that the world may not be able to survive without fossil fuels. This means that we must develop renewable sources of energy which are environmentally sustainable. Fortunately, we already possess the technology at hand to provide clean and reliable sources of energy for meeting human needs. Renewable systems include solar photo voltaic power systems, solar hot water systems, wind turbines, bio-fuel plantations, hydroelectric systems and so on. These energy sources are sustainable because they never 'run out'. 

Most importantly, many renewable energy sources, such as wind power and solar thermal, are already cheaper than conventional fuels, even though the price of fossil fuels and nuclear power does not reflect their full environmental and economic costs.