Global Warming Reports
Search
•
RSS Feed
Executive Summary
As the new home of NJPIRG's environmental work, Environment New Jersey can be contacted regarding this report.
The early effects of global warming are
already evident across the United States
and worldwide. The year 2005 was the warmest
on record. Left unchecked, temperatures will
continue to rise, and the effects of global
warming will become more severe. This report
examines trends in U.S. global warming
pollution nationally and by state and concludes
that the failure to limit emissions from burning
oil, coal, and natural gas has allowed global
warming pollution to grow out of control.
Human activities over the last century –
primarily burning fossil fuels – have changed
the composition of the atmosphere in ways that
threaten to dramatically alter the climate in the
years to come. In a December 2005 speech,
James Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard
Institute for Space Studies, stated, “The Earth’s
climate is nearing, but has not passed, a tipping
point, beyond which it will be impossible to
avoid climate change with far ranging
undesirable consequences.” These
consequences, he said, would “constitute
practically a different planet” and include sea
level rise, heat waves, drought, more intense
hurricanes, decreased crop yields, water
scarcity, and the spread of infectious diseases.
The United States is by far the largest
worldwide contributor to global warming,
releasing a quarter of the world’s carbon
dioxide, the primary global warming pollutant.
Power plants, cars, and light trucks are the
largest U.S. sources of carbon dioxide.
Existing technology could substantially reduce
global warming pollution by making power
plants and factories more efficient, making cars
go farther on a gallon of gasoline, and shifting
the country to clean, renewable energy sources,
such as wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass.
These solutions also would reduce our
dependence on oil, reduce air pollution, protect
pristine places from oil drilling and mining, and
save consumers money.
Unfortunately, the United States has rejected
mandatory limits on global warming pollution,
opting instead to allow global warming
pollution to increase unabated. As a result,
carbon dioxide emissions have skyrocketed
nationally and in most states.
Using data compiled by the Oak Ridge National
Laboratory, this report examines trends in
carbon dioxide emissions and fossil fuel
combustion nationally and by state for the four
decades spanning 1960 to 2001. Our major
findings include the following:
Carbon Dioxide Emissions Are Booming
• Between 1960 and 2001, U.S. emissions of
carbon dioxide almost doubled, jumping from
2.9 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide in
1960 to almost 5.7 billion metric tons in 2001,
an increase of 95 percent.
• In the 1990s, carbon dioxide emissions grew
more quickly than in the 1970s and 1980s,
increasing steadily at an average rate of 1.5
percent each year. The Energy Information
Administration estimates that emissions grew
by 1.7 percent in 2004, increasing to almost 6.0
billion metric tons.
• Regionally, carbon dioxide emissions rose
most rapidly in the Southeast and Gulf South
between 1960 and 2001, increasing by 163
percent and 175 percent, respectively.
• Among the states, Texas ranked first in the
nation for the highest emissions of carbon
dioxide in 2001, releasing 12 percent of the
nation’s total carbon dioxide emissions. In
1960, Texas emitted 240.7 million metric tons
of carbon dioxide; by 2001, the state’s emissions had grown to 668.5 million metric
tons, an increase of 178 percent.
• Twenty-eight (28) states more than doubled
their carbon dioxide emissions between 1960
and 2001. The 10 states that experienced the
largest overall increases in emissions in this
period include Texas, Florida, California,
Georgia, Louisiana, Indiana, Kentucky, North
Carolina, Missouri, and Arizona.
Driving the Boom in Carbon Dioxide
Emissions
A dramatic growth in oil emissions from the
transportation sector and coal emissions from
electricity generation fueled the rapid increase
in U.S. carbon dioxide emissions between 1960
and 2001.
• Carbon dioxide emissions from oil
combustion jumped 1.1 billion metric tons
from 1960 to 2001, accounting for 40 percent
of the total increase in U.S. carbon dioxide
emissions. The transportation sector drove this
rapid increase. Carbon dioxide emissions from
oil burned in the transportation sector
increased by more than 150 percent over the
period, largely due to a substantial rise in
vehicle travel and the stagnating fuel economy
of vehicles. In every other sector, carbon
dioxide emissions from oil combustion peaked
in the 1970s (Figure ES-1).
• Carbon dioxide emissions from coal climbed
1.1 billion metric tons between 1960 and 2001,
accounting for 40 percent of the total increase
in U.S. carbon dioxide emissions. Increased
electricity generation from coal-fired power
plants fueled this rapid growth. Emissions
from coal combustion in the electricity sector
skyrocketed from 1960 to 2001, increasing by
370 percent, as demand for electricity boomed.
At the same time, carbon dioxide emissions
from the industrial sector declined steadily after
1966 (Figure ES-2).
The longer we wait to reduce global warming
pollution, the harder the task will be in the
future. Key components of an action plan to
protect future generations from global warming
include:
• Establish mandatory limits on global warming
pollution that reduce emissions from today’s
levels within 10 years, by 20% by 2020 and 80%
by 2050.
• Reduce our dependence on fossil fuels by
making our homes and businesses more energy
efficient, making our cars and SUVs go farther
on a gallon of gasoline, and generating more
electricity from renewable energy sources.
|
