Did you know that the U.S. has experienced a 15 percent drop in carbon dioxide emissions since 2008?
Maybe I should ask again. It seems wrong, somehow, given everything that media, celebrity activists, leftists, green crony industries, and many politicians have been saying.
Did you know…
the U.S. had a 15% drop in CO2 emissions since 2008?
That is according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Which also noted that the U.S. had a 25% drop in CO2 emissions from generating electricity since 2008.
The Energy Dept.’s interest in these data is that for the first time since 1978, emissions from the electric power sector have fallen below emissions from the transportation sector, which are also down. (Prediction: a future fear-mongering campaign will intone ominously that auto emissions are even higher than emissions from electricity, presumed to be at catastrophic levels.)
The reason for this decline? Mainly, it’s the rise of cheap natural gas, thanks to hydraulic fracturing (fracking), which is an intrinsically safe process.
My June 2016 report on natural gas demonstrated the following:
- Thanks to technological advances in natural gas exploration, falling prices for natural gas have caused actual reductions in consumer electricity rates (crucial because the top priority for electricity policy in North Carolina is keeping consumers’ costs as low as possible).
- Gas-fired power plants are far more efficient and far less expensive than solar and wind plants.
- Gas-fired electricity production is responsible for actual lowering of CO2, SO2, and NOx emissions.
