(Photo of coal-fired power plant in Utah from Flickr and photographer arbyreed)
The U.S. is on a trajectory to increase greenhouse gas emissions 4% (over 2005) by 2020, in a business-as-usual scenario that includes government measures in place as of March 31, 2009.
President Obama assured the world at Copenhagen that we would reduce our emissions 17% (over 2005) by 2020.
Clearly additional steps need to be taken to close the gap.
The projection, in the 2010 U.S. Climate Action Report to the UN, does not include the recent automobile standards set by the EPA.
By 2020, the report forecasts the GDP will have grown 40%.
While CO2 is forecast to grow just 1.5%, other greenhouse gases will grow more rapidly. Hydrofluorocarbons will more than double, the report says. Ironically, they are now being used as a replacement for ozone-depleting substances.
The relatively slow growth of CO2 will come because of more renewable energy and efficiency, the report says.
Where we were in 2009
The U.S. is the third most populous country in the world, having grown by 59 million since 1990, to 308 million. It also has the highest GDP in the world, up 70% since 1990, the report said.
We are the world’s largest producer and consumer of energy. Fossil fuels accounted for about 80% of all energy consumption 2005-2008. Petroleum was the single largest energy source, at 37.7% in 2008, though it was down from 41% in 2005.
Natural gas was second at 24.4%, with coal third at 22.4%. Nuclear accounted for 8.1%, conventional hydropower 2% and all other renewables 3%, according to the report.
In transportation, the highway share of passenger miles (in 2006, the latest figures available), was 89% of the total. Airlines carried about 10% and mass transit and rail only 1%.
Government policies and actions that were figured into the projection included $90 billion in stimulus money from ARRA, federal agency actions to reduce their GHG, and actions taken by states and cities.
No comments:
Post a Comment