Role in Global Warming
Methane in the Earth's atmosphere is an important greenhouse gas with a global warming potential 25 times greater than carbon dioxide (averaged over 100 years), and methanogenesis in livestock and the decay of organic material is thus a considerable contributor to global warming. It may not be a net contributor in the sense that it works on organic material which used up atmospheric carbon dioxide when it was created, but its overall effect is to convert the carbon dioxide into methane which is a much more potent greenhouse gas.
Methanogenesis can also be beneficially exploited, to treat organic waste, to produce useful compounds, and the methane can be collected and used as biogas, a fuel. It is the primary pathway whereby most organic matter disposed of via landfill is broken down.
Read more about this topic: Methanogenesis
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