Carbon footprint man-made infrastructures resulted in a net loss to the atmosphere, -0.6 Mg C ha y. Carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere, and the emissions of other GHGs, are often associated with the burning of fossil fuels, like natural gas, crude oil and coal. While this is harmful to the environment, carbon offsets can be purchased in an attempt to make up for these harmful effects. The Kyoto Protocol defines legally binding targets and timetables for cutting the GHG emissions of industrialized countries that ratified the Kyoto Protocol. Accordingly, from an economic or market perspective, one has to distinguish between a
Coal gasification Coal gasification Coal gasification is the process of producing syngas–a mixture consisting primarily of carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen (H), carbon dioxide (CO), methane (CH), and water vapour (HO)–from coal and water, air and/or oxygen. Historically, coal was gasified using early technology to produce coal gas (also known as "town gas"), which is a combustible gas traditionally used for municipal lighting and heating before the advent of industrial-scale production of natural gas. In current practice, large-scale instances of coal gasification are primarily for electricity generation, such as in integrated gasification combined cycle power plants, for production of chemical feedstocks, or for