Is ozone a greenhouse gas?
Ozone is technically a greenhouse gas, but whether ozone is helpful or harmful depends on where it is found in the earth's atmosphere. Ozone occurs naturally at higher elevations in the atmosphere (the stratosphere) where it forms a layer that blocks ultraviolet (UV) light, which is harmful to plant and animal life, from reaching the earth’s surface. The protective benefit of stratospheric ozone outweighs its contribution to the greenhouse effect and to global warming. However, at lower elevations of the atmosphere (the troposphere), ozone is harmful to human health.
There are human-made industrial chemicals that break down ozone in the stratosphere and create holes in the ozone layer. The United States and countries all around the world ban and control production and use of several of these industrial gases under the Montreal Protocol. In the United States, emissions of air pollutants that result in ozone formation in the troposphere, or ground-level ozone, are regulated under the Clean Air Act.
Other FAQs about Environment
- How do I convert between short tons and metric tons?
- Is ozone a greenhouse gas?
- How much of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions are associated with electricity generation?
- What are the energy-related carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels for the United States and the world?
- What are greenhouse gases and how do they affect the climate?
- Why do carbon dioxide emissions weigh more than the fuel they originated from?
- Does EIA project energy production, consumption, or prices for individual states?
- How much carbon dioxide is produced when different fuels are burned?
- How much carbon dioxide is produced per kilowatthour of U.S. electricity generation?
- What are the greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions factors for fuels and electricity?
- What are U.S. energy-related carbon dioxide emissions by source and sector?
- How much carbon dioxide is produced from U.S. gasoline and diesel fuel consumption?
- Does EIA have information on unplanned outages of U.S. infrastructures?
- How many electric vehicles (EV) and EV charging stations are in the United States?