As the name suggests, the greenhouse effect is simular to what a greenhouse does. In the greenhouse sun light can get in the greenhouse because the greenhouse is made of glasses, but the heat can’t escape the greenhouse after entering it, and therefore keeping the inside of the greenhouse warm. On the other hand the green house effect traps the sun's warmth in the Earth’s lower atmosphere due to the greater transparency of the atmosphere to visible radiation from the sun than to infrared radiation emitted from the Earth’s surface.