EPA Climate Change Report

http://epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/downloads11/US-GHG-Inventory-2011-Executive-Summary.pdf


The United States Environmental Protection Agency released its annual Greenhouse Gas Inventory, basically a compilation of all the data we have of all carbon emissions from all sources in the U.S. As we’ve discussed, Rideshare does not have the same impact on climate gases as it does on Local Pollutants, but as an environmentally responsible company we wanted to give a shout-out to the results anyway.


Power Plants continue to represent an ever larger share of total U.S. emissions, as high gas prices and tighter fuel efficiency regulations reduce U.S. emissions growth from the Transportation sector. Power plants now constitute 42% of all carbon emission in the United States, up from approximately 1/3 of emissions in the 2000 report. Transportation represents about 34%, about the same as a decade ago, although a smaller proportion than a few years ago. The other major sources are certain industrial production activities, including glass, cement, and steel production, as well as deforestation. Agriculture is also a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, both from deforestation and other land use pattern changes as well as the more intensive utilization of nitrates and other fertilizers to boost crop production per acre. Ironically, one of the things incentivizing farmers to use more climate changing nitrates is the high price of corn caused by the ethanol industry, which was originally supposed to reduce carbon emissions.