The question of the relative importance of the various greenhouse gases is not being answered in an intellectually satisfactory manner. A search of the internet yield a multitude of different figures for the share of the greenhouse effect that is attributable to, for example, water vapor and CO₂. More perplexing is the fact that the figures are not given as single values but instead a wide range of values. One source says the share of long wave absorption by atmospheric CO₂ is between 9 and 26 percent whereas the share for H₂ in the form of water vapor or fog is between 66 and 85 percent. Another source gives the share for water vapor as 95 percent and that for CO₂ as 3.6 percent. This is not a satisfactory situation.

Given that the different greenhouse gases have different effectivenesses in absorbing long wave radiation the distribution of greenhouse gases by mass or volume is irrelevant. A molecule of methane (CH₄) is 28 times as effective in absorption of radiation than a modecule of CO₂. A molecule of nitrous oxide (NO) is about 210 times as effective as a molecule of CO₂. The first thing that is needed is then a tabulation of the relative effectiveness of the various greenhouse gases as absorbers of long wave radiation.