Per Capita Nitrous Oxide Emissions by Sector

• This interactive chart displays the per capita nitrous oxide emissions by sector annually since 1990 for any country or globally.

Positives

• This resource clearly shows trends in per capita nitrous oxide emissions over time.
• The data can be viewed in a variety of ways including both animated and static charts and tables.

Additional Prerequisites

• Students should know how to read a line graph and be familiar with 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 geography classes by exploring trends in the location of countries and their per capita nitrous oxide emissions.
  
• Students could further research nitrous oxide using guiding questions such as:
  
  • 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 per capita from the sectors. In the chart, agriculture appears to emit the highest concentration of N₂O globally. The resource is recommended for teaching.