Top 5 Largest Factors for Carbon Emissions

Learning the impacts for carbon dioxide are important, but knowing the causes are just as essential for mitigating the issue. Below are the top 5 most contributing factors for carbon emissions across the world.

Transportation Methods

The largest contributor by a plurality is the various transportation methods and their usage of fossil fuels to emit carbon dioxide. All forms of transportation including vehicles, planes, and trains take part in emitting the highest amount of carbon dioxide. However, as regulations and mandates for transportation emissions begin to rise, the amount of carbon dioxide released may become lowered in the near future.

Production of Electricity 

The second highest factor for carbon dioxide emissions in the world is the production of electricity with fossil fuels in homes and businesses. However, energy tends to be a lower factor in general due an increase in renewable resources and nuclear power for energy generation. Roughly 59% of carbon dioxide emitted in the form of coal combustion accounts for emissions in the electricity generation sector. This makes coal combustion for electricity a contributor by roughly 15% of all carbon dioxide emissions.

Industrial Uses

Generally, industrial uses such as chemical reactions for product generation and energy usage emit a significant amount of carbon dioxide. However, the industrial uses of carbon dioxide do not include electricity generation, making it an even larger contributor if taken into account. The difference between transportation, electricity generation, and industrial usage in terms of carbon dioxide emissions is similar, with a few percentage differences for each sector.

Residential and Commercial Uses

Utilizing fossil fuels for heat and lighting in housing is a large contributor to carbon dioxide emissions. Similar to industrial uses, the emissions for residential and commercial sectors are not inclusive of electricity generation. As another sector that is targeted by regulation, housing regulations and decisions by homeowners are turning towards more eco-friendly methods for controlling temperature. Solar panels, passive solar (trees and green buildings), and reducing air conditioning usage are ways that the residential sector limits carbon emissions.

Forestry Practices

Lastly, a portion of carbon emissions can be seen through cutting trees for industrial practices, paper production, and other means. Trees naturally sequester carbon dioxide and offset the amount of carbon dioxide that is emitted into the atmosphere. Roughly 10% of all carbon dioxide emissions are offset by trees. However, deforestation through destructive methods of cutting trees such as clearcutting and slash-and-burn techniques can release large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere at once.

Summary

The largest contributors to carbon dioxide emissions include transportation methods, electricity production, industrial uses, residential and commercial uses, and destructive forestry practices. Knowing the effects of carbon dioxide emissions is important, but understanding the largest contributors are significant as well to ensure change is made in the correct sectors.