Nitrous Oxide Emissions by Sector

• This interactive resource allows students to explore annual nitrous oxide emissions by sector since 1990 for any country or globally.

Positives

• This resource clearly shows where most nitrous oxide emissions come from and how those emissions changed over time.
• The data can be viewed as an animated chart, static chart, or table.

Additional Prerequisites

• Students should know how to read a line graph.
• Teachers may need to introduce students to the term fugitive emissions.
• Students may need some background information about nitrous oxide as a greenhouse gas and an unregulated ozone-depleting substance.
  

Differentiation

• Cross-curricular connections could be made with chemistry classes by exploring the chemical properties of nitrous oxide that make it a potent greenhouse gas and an ozone-depleting substance.
• Students can further research nitrous oxide using these questions as a guide:
  • How potent is nitrous oxide as a greenhouse gas?
    
  • How is nitrous oxide released from fertilizer and waste lagoons?
  • How does fertilizer use contribute to eutrophication and affect water ecosystems?
  • How important is nitrous oxide as an ozone-damaging gas?
    

The resource choose a 100-year time scale for the GWP to calculate and normalize these F gases units into a single unit expressed in CO₂e  This method is appropriate as it considered the residence time of N₂O - CO₂ emissions. In the chart, agriculture appears to emit the highest concentration of N₂O globally. The resource is recommended for teaching.