Abby L. Harvey
GHG Monitor
10/3/2014
Carbon dioxide emissions in the United States have increased compared 2012 and the first half of 2013 according to two recently published government reports. The reports, prepared by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Energy Information Agency, both note that the majority of carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. are from energy generation; mostly from coal-burning power plants. “Energy-related carbon dioxide emissions account for about 98 percent of U.S. CO2 emissions. The vast majority of CO2 emissions come from fossil fuel combustion, with smaller amounts from the nonfuel use of fossil fuels, as well as from electricity generation using geothermal energy and non-biomass waste. Other sources of CO2 emissions include industrial processes, such as cement and limestone production,” the EIA report says.
According to the EPA report, carbon dioxide accounts for roughly 91 percent of the greenhouse gases emitted in 2013 and most of that CO2 was emitted by power plants. The EPA report is unique in that it breaks down data to the facility level. For the 2013 report, 1,570 power plants reported their emissions. “In 2013, 3.18 billion metric tons CO2e were reported by direct emitters. The largest emitting sector was the Power Plant Sector with 2.1 billion metric tons CO2e,” the report says. Prior to 2013, emissions had been decreasing. “For sources reporting to the GHGRP, emissions increased by 0.62 percent from 2012 to 2013; this increase was driven by a similar increase in power plant emissions. Over the past three reporting years (2011-2013), GHGRP reported emissions have declined by 3.9 percent. This decline is caused primarily by a 5.4 percent decline in reported emissions by power plants. Since 2010, emissions from power plants have decreased by 9.8 percent,” the report says.
The EIA report, which was published last week, offers more recent, though less specific data as it does not break emissions down to the facility level. The EIA’s Monthly Energy Review found that in the first six months of 2014, the US emitted 2.737 billion metric tons of CO2, a 2.7 percent increase over the same time period last year, which had emissions of 2.664 billion metric tons. If emissions hold at 2.7 percent over last year, the United States would have total emissions of 5.521 billion metric tons, the highest emissions recorded since 2010 when emissions were reported at 5.619. According to the report, emissions peaked in 2007 and have not followed a consistent pattern since.
