EPA: U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Dropped 1.1% in 2006
May 21, 2008 // Published as a news service by IHS
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released the national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory, which finds that overall emissions during 2006 decreased by 1.1% from the previous year.
The report, Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2006, is the latest in an annual set of reports that the U.S. submits to the Secretariat of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, which sets an overall framework for intergovernmental efforts to tackle the challenge posed by climate change.
Total emissions of the six main greenhouse gases in 2006 were equivalent to 7,054.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, according to the report.
These gases include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride.
The report indicates that overall emissions grew by 14.7% from 1990 to 2006, while the U.S. economy grew by 59% over the same period.
The decrease in emissions in 2006 was due primarily to a decrease in carbon dioxide emissions associated with fuel and electricity consumption, according to the report.
The following factors were contributors to this decrease:
- Compared to 2005, 2006 had warmer winter conditions, which decreased consumption of heating fuels as well as cooler summer conditions, which reduced demand for electricity
- Restraint on fuel consumption caused by rising fuel prices primarily in the transportation sector.
- Increased use of natural gas and renewables in the electric power sector.
The inventory tracks annual GHG emissions at the national level and presents historical emissions from 1990 to 2006.
The inventory also calculates carbon dioxide emissions that are removed from the atmosphere by "sinks," that is through the uptake of carbon by forests, vegetation and soils.
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).