Friday, November 4, 2011

2011 US Carbon Emissions Will Be Below 1998 Levels

Carbon emissions in the USA during 2011 are likely to below 1998 levels. Emissions in 2011 will also be below the 2010 mark. Those are the conclusions from EIA data at www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/monthly/pdf/sec12_3.pdf

What explains the USA's real progress on reducing carbon emissions?

America is using production, energy more efficiently with energy consumption at 2000 levels, rampimg up sharply all renewables, including biofuels as a substitute for oil, and continues to shift from coal to gas for electricity production.  Coal on a lifecycle basis emits twice the carbon pollution to make electricity as gas does.

Other pollutants like mercury, nox, sox are also declining sharply, in part for the same reasons that drive carbon emission declines and in part  because 60% of coal plants now have installed pollution controls for non-carbon, traditional pollutants and comply with the new EPA cross state air pollution rule and the proposed EPA Air Toxic Rule.

2 comments:

  1. John, this article seems to strike a different tone...
    Greenhouse Gases Show Biggest Jump Ever. The AP (11/3, Borenstein) reported "the global output of heat-trapping carbon dioxide jumped by the biggest amount on record, the US Department of Energy calculated, a sign of how feeble the world's efforts are at slowing man-made global warming." The latest numbers "for 2010 mean that levels of greenhouse gases are higher than the worst case scenario outlined by climate experts just four years ago," the AP added. Tom Boden, director of the Energy Department's Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center at Oak Ridge National Lab, said, "From an emissions standpoint, the global financial crisis seems to be over."

    http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/nov/3/biggest-jump-ever-seen-in-global-warming-gases/

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  2. Thanks for the clarification

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