Slovenia's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Agricultural Dominance and Fluctuations
Throughout the decades, Slovenia's N2O emissions have been predominantly driven by agriculture. The sector's emissions peaked in the late 20th century, reflecting the country's agricultural expansion. However, significant fluctuations occurred, particularly in the early 1990s, coinciding with Slovenia's independence in 1991. This period saw a marked decrease in agricultural emissions, likely due to economic restructuring and shifts in farming practices.
Industrial and Energy Contributions
While agriculture has been the primary source, the energy and industrial sectors have also contributed to Slovenia's N2O emissions. Post-World War II industrialization and the construction of major power plants, such as the Trbovlje Power Plant in 1953, increased emissions. However, the opening of the Krško Nuclear Power Plant in 1978 marked a shift towards cleaner energy, potentially reducing emissions. The energy sector saw a notable increase in emissions around 1990, aligning with Slovenia's transition to a market economy.
Recent Trends and Policy Impacts
In recent decades, Slovenia's emissions have shown a declining trend, influenced by policy changes and technological advancements. The country's accession to the EU in 2004 and the ratification of the Paris Agreement in 2016 have driven efforts to improve energy efficiency and increase renewable energy use. These initiatives are expected to continue reducing emissions, reflecting Slovenia's commitment to sustainable development.
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.