Quote:
Originally Posted by 8schan
It was told on the interview that one fart from a cow releases 22 metrics (if that is the correct measurment) of methane, that's more than many transportations combined!
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It's quite alarming, isn't it! The process is called “enteric fermentation”, although that's only a portion of the cow's emissions. There are also emissions from the manure - refered to as “manure management”.
In fact cows do emit more methane (CH4) than cars – way more. A dairy cow emits 118 kg of methane each year, while an average car in Canada emits 0.6 kg. But don’t forget that CO2 is a much more significant GHG than is CH4.
Still, the cow methane adds up: in 2001, enteric fermentation was the source of 19,000 ktCO2eq (if you include the manure, it’s 29,000!), while gasoline cars, SUVs and pickup trucks combined for 88,000. So overall the cars are emitting about 4 times more than the cows, but the very fact that cows are in the same ballpark is amazing.
Note that the total enteric fermentation numbers are from all livestock in Canada, not just cows. I think it’s also interesting that dairy cows emit twice as much methane as do beef cows.
(ktCO2eq is kilotonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, which is the standard reporting unit for GHG emissions. CO2eq includes CO2, CH4, N2O, HFCs, PFCs and SF6)
source for all of this is Canada's Greenhouse Gas Inventory, which is Canada's submission to the UNFCCC.
