Grenada's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Agricultural Influence on N₂O Emissions
Grenada's N₂O emissions have been predominantly driven by agricultural activities, particularly since the mid-20th century. The introduction of chemical fertilizers post-World War II marked a significant shift, likely contributing to increased N₂O emissions from agricultural soils. This trend aligns with global patterns where nitrogen-based fertilizers are known to elevate nitrous oxide levels. The data indicates that agriculture has consistently been the primary source of N₂O emissions in Grenada, with minor fluctuations over the decades.
Energy and Other Sources
While agriculture remains the dominant source, other sectors have also contributed to Grenada's N₂O emissions. The establishment of an oil terminal in the 1970s and subsequent energy-related activities introduced emissions from the energy sector, albeit at a lower scale compared to agriculture. Additionally, emissions from other sources, such as waste and miscellaneous activities, have shown slight increases, particularly in recent decades. These sectors, however, remain secondary to agriculture in their impact on overall emissions.
Recent Trends and Initiatives
In recent years, Grenada has taken steps towards reducing its carbon footprint through renewable energy initiatives. Launched in 2013, these efforts aim to decrease reliance on fossil fuels, potentially curbing future emissions. While the immediate impact on N₂O emissions is not explicitly documented, the shift towards sustainable energy practices represents a positive move towards mitigating greenhouse gas emissions in the long term.
Background
The chart shows a national breakdown by source of the yearly nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from human activities and processes, expressed as weight in megatonnes (Mt). Human-induced emissions are the main driver of the increasing atmospheric nitrous oxide that is warming our planet. The sources of human nitrous oxide emissions are
- Agriculture
- Energy
- Industry
- Waste
- Other
Agriculture
Emissions related to agriculture are mainly from the use of synthetic fertilizers and manure management.
Synthetic fertilizer, used for agricultural processes, contains a lot of nitrogen. That nitrogen in the soil reacts and causes considerable N2O emissions. The use of excess fertilizer, meaning more fertilizer than the plants can use to grow, causes even higher relative emissions. Applying the right amount of fertilizer at the right time can reduce N2O emissions. There are many technical solutions to reduce emissions while keeping, or even increasing, agricultural yields.
When manure is left on the field or otherwise managed in dry processes, it emits considerable amounts of nitrous oxide. Manure can be managed by wet processes, which reduces nitrous oxide emissions but increases methane emissions. Some technical solutions focus on modifying the animal feed to reduce the nitrogen in the manure, thereby reducing nitrous oxide emissions.
Energy, Industry, Waste, and Other
All non-agricultural categories together have much lower emissions than agricultural emissions alone.
N2O emissions related to energy are almost all from the combustion of fossil fuels. For example, the combustion of fossil fuels in power plants, cars, and airplanes not only causes CO2 emissions but also emits nitrous oxide (N2O). Any advances to reducing fossil fuel dependency will thus also reduce nitrous oxide emissions.
Most industry-related emissions are from the chemical industry for producing fertilizer, nylon, and similar products. Technologies are available to reduce emissions in these processes.
Nitrous oxide emissions from waste come from, for example, wastewater treatment and landfills.
Wikipedia: Nitrous oxideIPCC: AR6, 5.16 Anthropogenic nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions
Units and Measures
N2O emissions are expressed in the total weight in megatonnes per year. 1 Megatonne is equal to 1 million tonnes.
Wikipedia: MegatonneWikipedia: Global warming potential
About the Data
The last available year in all the emission datasets is 2023. N2O emissions come from the PRIMAP-Hist dataset. It is a rich dataset that combines several published sources to create a historical emissions time series for various greenhouse gases.
The Key Insights paragraph was generated using a large language model (LLM) using a structured approach to improve the accuracy. This included separating the context generation from the interpretation and narrative.
Data Sources
PRIMAP-hist The PRIMAP-hist national historical emissions time series (1750-2023)
Update cycle: Every few monthsDelay: Less than 1 yearCredits: Gütschow, Johannes; Busch, Daniel; Pflüger, Mika (2024): The PRIMAP-hist national historical emissions time series (1750-2023) v2.6. Zenodo.