Carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels remains in the atmosphere and is not absorbed by vegetation and the oceans. While transparent to visible light, carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, absorbing and emitting infrared radiation at its two infrared-active vibrational frequencies (see the section "Structure and bonding" above). Light emission from the earth's surface is most intense in the infrared region between 200 and 2500 cm, as opposed to light emission from the much hotter sun which is most intense in the visible region. Absorption of infrared light at the vibrational frequencies of atmospheric carbon dioxide traps energy near the
History of the petroleum industry in Canada (natural gas) stacks. One chemical result of burning hydrogen sulphide emissions was sulfur dioxide, another toxic gas. Since hydrogen sulphide is heavier than air, it settled to the ground, dispersed enough to be less than lethal. Hydrogen sulphide was always in the air in small concentrations. Turner Valley had a rotten egg odour on most days. As Alberta became an ever-larger oil producer after the Leduc discovery, the Conservation Board acted to prevent any repetition of the natural gas waste so common in Turner Valley. The board developed a broad conservation policy for natural gas. It prohibited producing natural gas from an