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A look at carbon dioxide and its leading sources
http://www.bakersfield.com/119/story/155610.html

Carbon dioxide is the biggest man-made contributor to global warming. It’s caused by burning fossil fuels, the chief ones being coal and oil-based fuels like gasoline and diesel.

The federal government monitors four main “greenhouse gases” - those that hold heat in the atmosphere. They are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and halocarbons.

Carbon dioxide accounts for almost two-thirds of the man-made heat energy trapped in the air. Methane is second, accounting for nearly one-fifth of the extra heat.

Carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for at least 100 years.

Just how much carbon dioxide goes into the atmosphere depends on what fuel is burned. Here is how much carbon dioxide different fuels emit to produce the same amount of energy, 1 million British thermal units:

- Nuclear, hydroelectric, wind, solar and geothermal electricity plants: zero.

- Natural gas: 117 pounds.

- Jet fuel: 156 pounds.

- Gasoline for cars: 156 pounds.

- Diesel for cars: 161 pounds

- Home heating oil: 161 pounds.

- Bituminous coal, the most abundant U.S. coal: 205 pounds

- Subbituminous coal, the second most abundant: 213 pounds.

- Lignite coal, the third most abundant: 215 pounds.

- Anthracite coal, the rarest in the U.S.: 227 pounds.

Sources: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s annual greenhouse gas index; Department of Energy’s carbon dioxide emissions coefficients for different fuels.