We’ve all seen Al Gore’s film on climate change, right? We talk about global warming, as though we’re part of a UN committee on climate change. We even find ourselves lecturing about the hazards of greenhouse gases, without really remembering all of their names.
(Confess, it’s happened to you, right?)

Knowing your gases, can put you in the know when discussing the impact of each gas on climate change. But knowing your greenhouse gases can also help you immensely when selecting a carbon offset provider.

At Carbon Catalog we’ve already given our readers a compact little how-to guide for getting started. And our handy rating system (see criteria) can help you pick out your offset provider based on a number of factors such as transparency of a provider’s business dealings.

But the pricing of an offset is directly related to the quality of an offset. The quality of an offset may be directly connected to the type of greenhouse gas you are offsetting. Planting a mango forest in India to offset carbon dioxide might seem more impacting (and exciting) than reducing SF6 gas emitted by a tire factory. The latter however, may have a bigger impact on the earth.

The point of all this is, know your gas. When you are cruising around the net choosing an offset provider, it may help you make more informed decisions.

The Gases

There are greenhouse gases caused by humans (anthropogenic) and those caused by Mother Nature. Unless you have some seriously good connections, the only gases we can change are the ones emitted by us.

To help us along, the Kyoto Protocol has selected six major greenhouse gases (2005) that we need to either reduce or neutralize.

• Carbon dioxide (CO2), the most dominant and notorious greenhouse gas produced by the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation…

• Methane (CH4), otherwise known as “swamp gas,” is that which is emitted from animal manure, garbage dumps…

• Nitrous oxide (N2O) is laughing gas, but its main form comes via fertilizer and car exhaust…

• Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are small but potent, and found in your kitchen fridge, air conditioners, foam-blowing agents, aerosol propellants…

• Perfluorocarbons (PFCs) are by-products of aluminum smelting, and are used for manufacturing semi-conductors. They have become substitutes for ozone depleting chemicals… a lesser of two evils?

• Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) is the most potent greenhouse gas. You’ll find it in Nike Air shoes, car tires, electrical insulation…

Greenpeace can be a little radical at times for our taste, but they have a nice little sum-up about greenhouse gases if you need more reading material.

Next week we’ll talk a little bit about the potency of these different gases.