- Industry: Broadcasting & receiving
- Number of terms: 5074
- Number of blossaries: 1
- Company Profile:
The largest broadcasting organisation in the world.
Man-made climate change - climate change caused by human activity as opposed to natural processes.
Industry:Natural environment
Biodiversity (a contraction of the phrase biological diversity) means the variety of life on earth, or within one particular ecosystem, in terms of the number of distinct biological species present. Tropical rainforests, for example, support a huge variety of species, so are highly biodiverse, while polar regions are far less so. Scientists worry that deforestation, such as that associated with planting crops for biofuels, animal feed and human consumption is reducing biodiversity. See also monoculture.
Industry:Natural environment
Biofuel is a general term for fuel, including biodiesel, that is derived from biomass - living or recently dead organic matter. In general it is made from sugar, starch, vegetable oils or animal fats. Examples include bio-ethanol from energy crops such sugar cane, corn, palm oil, and rape seed.
Industry:Natural environment
The soot that results from the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, biofuels, and biomass (wood, animal dung, etc.). It is the most potent climate-warming aerosol. Unlike greenhouse gases, which trap infrared radiation that is already in the Earth's atmosphere, these particles absorb all wavelengths of sunlight and then re-emit this energy as infrared radiation.
Industry:Natural environment
Carbon is the fourth most common chemical element in the universe, and carbon compounds - in other words, carbon chemically combined with other elements - are the basis of all known life forms on earth. Pure carbon appears in many apparently diverse forms, from diamond to graphite to charcoal, but it is much more commonly found in substances such as coal, oil, natural gas, wood and peat that we use for fuel. When we burn these substances to provide energy - either directly in our homes as heat, or in power stations to produce electricity - the combustion process produces 'oxides' of carbon, including the gas CO2.
Industry:Natural environment
CO2 is made up of the elements carbon and oxygen. It exists quite naturally in our atmosphere, as part of the carbon cycle. Everyday processes in the plant and animal world both add CO2 to the atmosphere and take it out. However, because it is a greenhouse gas - meaning it affects the temperature of the earth - the exact level of CO2 is important. Burning fossil fuels releases CO2 into the atmosphere, hence the anxiety that extensive use of these fuels is causing climate change.
Industry:Natural environment
Climate change is the variation in the average global or regional climate as measured by yardsticks such as average temperature and rainfall. This variation is caused by both natural processes and human activity. Weather is what happens over days or even hours, whereas climate is the average weather measured over a longer period. Increasingly when people refer to climate change, however, they specifically mean the phenomenon of global warming.
Industry:Natural environment
A chemical combination of two or more elements, such as carbon and oxygen in carbon dioxide (CO2).
Industry:Natural environment
Ordinary diesel, like regular petrol, is refined from oil but it is a thicker, heavier liquid with a higher 'energy density' - meaning it offers better fuel economy. On the down side, unless you buy an air filter, diesel exhaust is a significant source of particulates and other sources of air pollution. A type of diesel not derived from petroleum is increasingly widely available, commonly referred to as biodiesel.
Industry:Natural environment
An ecosystem is the term applied to the interaction of a community of different living (organic) species - plants, animals and micro-organisms - with non-living (or inorganic) factors, such as atmospheric gases, temperature and light. When the balance of an ecosystem is changed - by the introduction of new elements or dramatic rises in one or more of them - the normal functioning of the ecosystem can be disrupted.
Industry:Natural environment
