Greenhouse Gas &Global Warming Potential

“All greenhouse gases have what is called a Global Warming Potential (GWP). GWP is a relative measure of how much heat a greenhouse gas traps in the atmosphere. It compares the amount of heat trapped by a certain mass of the gas in question to the amount of heat trapped by a similar mass of carbon dioxide.  GWP is expressed as a factor of carbon dioxide whose GWP is standardized to 1.

By assigning a GWP value it allows policy makers to compare the impacts of emissions and reductions of different gases. For instance, methane is a significant contributor to the greenhouse effect and has a GWP of 21. This means methane is approximately 21 times more heat-absorptive than carbon dioxide per unit of weight”.

Ref  Doreen M. Monteleone, Ph.D. 2013, Flexographic Technical Association, “How to Calculate Your Facility’s Carbon Footprint, For Printing Operations!”

Categorised in: Air pollution