Report Finds U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Falling
Total U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions declined 1.5 percent in 2006, according to a recent report, only the third time since 1990 emissions have declined.
Total U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions declined 1.5 percent in 2006, according to a recent report, only the third time since 1990 emissions have declined.
United States GHG emissions were 7,075.6 million metric tons carbon dioxide equivalent in 2006, a decrease of 1.5 percent from the 2005 level according to Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the United States 2006, a report released today by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Since 1990, U.S. GHG emissions have grown at an average annual rate of 0.9 percent. U.S. GHG emissions per unit of gross domestic product, or “U.S. GHG-intensity,” fell 4.2 percent to 653 metric tons per million 2000 constant dollars of GDP in 2006. Since 1990, the annual average decline in GHG-intensity has been 2.0 percent.
Emissions of carbon dioxide from energy consumption and industrial processes, which had risen at an average annual rate of 1.2 percent per year from 1990 to 2005, declined by 1.8 percent in 2006, according to the report.
The decline in carbon dioxide emissions from 2005 to 2006 can be attributed to a 0.5 percent decline in overall energy demand and a decrease in the carbon intensity of electricity generation. Favorable weather patterns, where both heating and cooling degree-days were lower in 2006 than 2005, and higher energy prices, were the primary causes of lower total energy consumption.
The decline in carbon intensity of electricity generation was driven by increased use of natural gas, the least carbon-intensive fossil fuel, and greater reliance on non-fossil fuel energy sources.
Methane emissions, meanwhile, decreased by 0.4 percent, while nitrous oxide emissions rose by 2.9 percent. Emissions of HFCs, PFCs, and SF6, a group labeled collectively as “high-GWP gases” because their high heat trapping capabilities, fell by 2.2 percent.
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