Livestock's Long Shadow "that livestock are responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions" GHG emissions arise from feed production (e.g. chemical fertilizer production, deforestation for pasture and feed crops, cultivation of feed crops, feed transport and soil organic matter losses in pastures and feed crops), animal production (e.g. enteric fermentation and methane and nitrous oxide emissions from manure) and as a result of the transportation of animal products. Following this approach the report estimates that livestock contributes to about 9% of total anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions, but 37% of methane and 65% of nitrous oxide emissions. Along the animal food chain, main
Nitrous oxide more fuel by providing more oxygen than air alone, resulting in a more powerful combustion. The gas is not flammable at a low pressure/temperature, but it delivers more oxygen than atmospheric air by breaking down at elevated temperatures. Therefore, it often is mixed with another fuel that is easier to deflagrate. Nitrous oxide is a strong oxidant, roughly equivalent to hydrogen peroxide, and much stronger than oxygen gas. Nitrous oxide is stored as a compressed liquid; the evaporation and expansion of liquid nitrous oxide in the intake manifold causes a large drop in intake charge temperature, resulting in a denser