U.S. GHG Emissions at Lowest Level in 20 Years

[bananas]

Source: Climate Central



U.S. greenhouse gas emissions declined 3.4 percent in 2012 from 2011, the Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday. Those emissions are down 10 percent from what they were in 2005, the EPA said, and are at their lowest levels since 1994.

Most of the decline came from reductions in energy consumption, increased fuel efficiency of cars and other types of transportation, and a shift to natural gas from coal in fueling power plants, the EPA said in a statement.

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Carbon dioxide accounted for more than 80 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions, methane for nearly 9 percent, nitrous oxide for just more than 6 percent and other gases for smaller percentages. Most of the carbon dioxide came from the combustion of fossil fuels like coal and natural gas, while methane came mostly from livestock, decomposition of waste in landfills and natural gas systems.

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Read more: http://www.climatecentral.org/news/u.s.-greenhouse-gas-emissions-decline-in-2012-17313

[MADem]

1. This is an important story; I hope we can keep heading in the right direction.

Kick and rec.

[NYC_SKP]

2. Thanks, Obama!

To be fair, some of that initial drop was due to decreased economic activity.

But Obama has been the biggest proponent of green initiatives and energy efficiency since Carter.

[paleotn]

3. Encouraging, but look where the decline began...

...2008....The financial crash and beginning of the Great Recession. I may have overlooked it in the article, but in my mind the sharp drop in economic activity in 2008 and the mediocre recovery, thanks Rethugs, are the mostly significant reasons. Also the shift from coal to nat gas is important as well. Have cars become all that more efficient in the last 5 or 6 years? That is the average car on the road? More likely people were simply driving less.

[GliderGuider]

4. Global GHG emissions at highest level in recorded history

The problem with CO2 is that while emissions may be local, the problem is global. and the problem isn't getting better, it's getting worse. Fast. Even the 2008 global recession only caused a small downward blip in emissions.

[Edim]

5. The main factors are:

- switch from coal to natural gas
- US economic slowdown

Renewables (except from hydro) don't reduce CO2 emissions (see Germany or Denmark).

The global CO2 emissions curve, rather than declining, is going up faster than it has in decades.
http://earlywarn.blogspot.com/2013/01/co2-concentration-in-panic-and-repent.html

[Edim]

6. The graph:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yMvNzlIOs0I/UPNYZhjNOvI/AAAAAAAAEfM/EOS2Ma41wgM/s1600/Screen+shot+2013-01-13+at+4.59.06+PM.png