- Industry: Broadcasting & receiving
- Number of terms: 5074
- Number of blossaries: 1
- Company Profile:
The largest broadcasting organisation in the world.
Monoculture is the practise of planting a single crop, or genetically similar crops, over a wide area. Its advantages to growers are that the crop may thrive in conditions tailored to its success and without competition from other species. However, the practise will also reduce the region's biodiversity by limiting the number of other species for which it is a suitable habitat. Scientists warn that extensive forest clearance to make way for widespread growth of crops such as sugarcane to create biofuels is creating a monoculture harmful to biodiversity. The opposite of a monoculture is a polyculture.
Industry:Natural environment
The natural level of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, which keeps the planet about 30C warmer than it would otherwise be - essential for life as we know it. Water vapour is the most important component of the natural greenhouse effect.
Industry:Natural environment
Nitrogen oxides are compounds of nitrogen and oxygen, two elements that do not normally react with each other but will do so during high temperature combustion – such as in a car engine. Examples include nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), which contribute to air pollution, and nitrous oxide (N2O), which is a major greenhouse gas. Although its warming effect is far less than CO2, it persists in the atmosphere for far longer, so measured over 100 years its impact is 298 times greater.
Industry:Natural environment
Offsetting, or carbon offsetting, refers to the (highly contentious) principle that a company or individual can mitigate or even entirely neutralise the effects of their CO2 emissions by investing in programmes that promote energy-efficiency or CO2 absorption, such as providing low-energy lightbulbs or planting trees.
Industry:Natural environment
Oil refining is the process of taking crude oil and turning it into fuels such as petrol and diesel. Crude oil varies in its composition, consisting of hydrocarbons and other organic compounds containing nitrogen, oxygen and sulphur. Refining oil requires energy and releases air-polluting chemicals. However, the majority of the CO2 produced by oil is emitted only once it has been turned into fuel and then burnt.
Industry:Natural environment
There is no universally accepted definition of organic farming, and each country regulates what can and cannot be labelled "organic". In general, it describes a form of agriculture that avoids use of synthetic fertilisers, pesticides, growth regulators, and livestock feed additives, and relies instead, as far as possible, on "natural" products and techniques - such as crop rotation and animal manures.
Industry:Natural environment
Ozone is made up of three oxygen atoms. It has benefits and dangers depending on where in our atmosphere it occurs: near ground level, it is a pollutant that affects respiration; 10-50km up, in the stratosphere, the ozone layer philtres out potentially harmful ultraviolet rays (which cause skin cancer) from reaching the earth. Ozone also functions as a greenhouse gas, though it is considered a less potent one than CO2.
Industry:Natural environment
Particulates - sometimes referred to as particulate matter or just particles - are tiny pieces of dust, soot and other materials suspended in the atmosphere. These can be produced naturally, by volcanoes or forest fires for example, but are also caused by incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, particularly from diesel engines. Because diesel is a denser fuel than petrol, it needs more oxygen for all its hydrocarbons to react completely, and the unburnt carbon - soot or black smoke - is emitted through the exhaust pipe.
Industry:Natural environment
Payback, or the payback period, is the time it takes for savings (often, in this context, in energy bills) to overtake the initial capital outlay on installation of an energy-saving device or system.
Industry:Natural environment
The total amount of greenhouse gas emitted by a country per unit of population.
Industry:Natural environment
