Climate change stunner: USA leads world in CO2 cuts

[Willinois]

This interesting blog post takes a big picture look at how the US is cutting CO2 emissions.



The one odd part is that the author doesn't credit the recession for being the main reason why energy use (and CO2 emissions) went down in 2008. CO2 emissions were going up during Bush's term until the economy tanked. The question now is whether we're going to keep CO2 low by using energy more efficiently and switching to new fuel sources. Or, will we go back to the way things were?

The blog quotes the International Energy Agency which sites the switch from coal to natural gas and reduced oil use as reasons.

How big is the reduction?

Quote:From a US perspective, it's equal to eliminating the combined emissions of ten western states: Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah and Nevada.

It seems the planet's biggest all-time CO2 polluter is finally reducing its emissions.

Not only that, but as my top chart shows, US CO2 emissions are falling even faster than what President Obama pledged in the global Copenhagen Accord.

Some of the policy decisions that point to continued progress:

Quote:The US EPA just passed new clean air regulations that will cause the oldest, dirtiest and least efficient coal plants to shut down while also making it very hard to build new ones.

Prices for alternatives to coal -- like natural gas, solar and wind -- are falling rapidly. Even the most expensive of these, solar without any subsidies, is now cheaper than building new coal plants in some of the sunniest parts of the US.

Many forces point to a continuing decline in US coal burning.

The recession forced cuts in CO2 on an unwilling Bush administration. The questions is whether we'll take advantage of the opportunity by changing the energy sector as the economy recovers.
Obama is taking action in all the important areas (cutting coal use, energy efficiency, reducing oil use) even without Congress passing an energy bill. It's one of the most impressive uses of Executive power in American history.