Is nitrous oxide a greenhouse gas?

Laughing Gas is no joke: The forgotten greenhouse gas

       Nitrous oxide is known as laughing gas, a colorless, odorless, non-flammable gas. Nitrous oxide (N2O), like carbon dioxide, is a long-lived greenhouse gas that accumulates in the atmosphere. It can make you feel euphoric, but its effect on the climate is no joke either.

What are greenhouse gases:

         Greenhouse gases are gases in the atmosphere of a planet such as Earth, which have the effect of raising the surface temperature of the planet. Greenhouse gases are infrared active, meaning that they can absorb and emit infrared radiation in the same long wavelength range as that emitted by the Earth's surface, clouds and atmosphere.

Greenhouse gases and their harmful effects

         The harmfulness of greenhouse gases is influenced by their life cycle in the atmosphere and their global warming potential (GWP). The main greenhouse gases that affect climate change are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, ozone and nitrous oxide. Despite the growing role of greenhouse gases in global warming and the ozone layer, little has been done to control this climate pollutant.

         Nitrous oxide is more damaging to the ozone layer than carbon dioxide, 300 times more so. Since nitrous oxide also has a short life span, reducing emissions of nitrous oxide can better and faster reduce the impact of global warming. One of the largest emissions is agriculture, especially fertilized soil and animal manure, which makes it more difficult to control the reduction of nitrous oxide emissions. Attempts can be made to reduce emissions of other greenhouse gases, but nitrous oxide is difficult to control because it is linked to food production.

Measures to reduce nitrous oxide emissions:

1. Stocking rate and production performance

Models show that by fine-tuning production systems to get the same yield with fewer animals, greenhouse gas emissions on some farms can be reduced.

2. Efficiency improvement
Increasing output relative to input does not necessarily reduce absolute emissions, but it can improve emissions of products.

3. Nitrogen fertilizer
Reducing nitrogen fertilizer use is reducing the amount of nitrogen in the soil that can be converted into nitrous oxide content

4. The dairy farm is milked once a day
When appropriate, a deliberate decision to milk only once a day throughout the lactation period can reduce emissions and maintain profitability.