Links tagged “emissions”

The United States led the entire world in reducing CO2 emissions last year while also experiencing solid economic growth, according to a newly released report. “The United States saw the largest decline in energy-related CO2 emissions in 2019 on a country basis – a fall of 140 Mt, or 2.9%, to 4.8 Gt,” The International Energy Agency (IEA) reported on Tuesday. “US emissions are now down almost 1 Gt from their peak in the year 2000, the largest absolute decline by any country over that period.” 

“A 15% reduction in the use of coal for power generation underpinned the decline in overall US emissions in 2019,” the IEA continued. “Coal-fired power plants faced even stronger competition from natural gas-fired generation, with benchmark gas prices an average of 45% lower than 2018 levels. As a result, gas increased its share in electricity generation to a record high of 37%. Overall electricity demand declined because demand for air-conditioning and heating was lower as a result of milder summer and winter weather. The IEA noted that 80% of the increase in CO2 emissions came from Asia and that China and India both contributed significantly to the increase.

Steve Milloy: "However you slice it, carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) is an expensive futility and greenwashing boondoggle masquerading a policy alternative for managing the climate hysteria via technology."

GOP climate bill will seek to commit US to planting 3.3 billion trees annually

Plant or not plant trees to fight "global warming?! It's all so confusing! This is what the (allegedly) settled science says:

CBS News: Planting a trillion trees could be the "most effective solution" to climate change, 2018 study says - 

Christian Science Monitor: Why planting some trees could make global warming worse - 2016

Live Science: Want to Fight Climate Change? Plant 1 Trillion Trees - 2019

Discover Mag: We Can’t Just Plant Billions of Trees to Stop Climate Change - 2019

AP: Best way to fight climate change? Plant a trillion trees - 2019

Climate News Network: Planting trees will not slow global warming - 2017

"Instead of banning fossil fuels outright, the U.S. embraced natural gas amid a boom in its production. Thanks to a process called hydraulic fracturing or "fracking," we've managed to tap new reserves of natural gas. In 2015, the U.S. surpassed Saudi Arabia and Russia to become the world's top producer of natural gas. By 2018, energy companies produced over 60% more natural gas than they had two decades earlier. This newfound abundance of natural gas has helped our nation transition away from coal, which emits twice as much carbon dioxide.

Thanks to this shift, U.S. carbon dioxide emissions have hit 30-year lows, even as global emissions have increased by 50% during the same period. And since 2005, natural gas has done more to reduce power sector dioxide emissions than all renewable energy sources combined, according to the Energy Information Administration.

By eschewing regulation, America has also spurred additional emissions-reducing innovations in the private sector. Freed from red tape, U.S. energy firms have been able to devise and implement a host of groundbreaking green technologies.

CO2 emission "declines in rich countries balancing out a rise in poor nations, according to data published Tuesday. The International Energy Agency said emissions of the main man-made greenhouse gas stayed at 33 gigatons in 2019, even as the world economy grew by 2.9%.

“This was primarily due to declining emissions from electricity generation in advanced economies, thanks to the expanding role of renewable sources (mainly wind and solar), fuel switching from coal to natural gas, and higher nuclear power generation,” the Paris-based agency said. “Other factors included milder weather in several countries, and slower economic growth in some emerging markets.”

The country with the biggest drop in energy-related CO2 emissions was the United States, which recorded a fall of 2.9% to 4.8 gigatons on the back of coal-fired power plant closures and lower demand for electricity. The European Union saw its emissions fall by 5% to 2.9 gigatons, while Japan's dropped 4.3% to just over 1 gigaton in 2019. By contrast, emissions in the rest of the world rose by almost 400 million tonnes last year, led by higher coal use in Asia.