US Greenhouse Gas Emissions Drop 2.9%

The US EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has issued its latest US greenhouse gas emissions report, which covers the year 2008.

Overall, it says, US emissions dropped 2.9 per cent between 2007 and 2008: a decrease strongly linked to reduced energy-associated Carbon Dioxide output. In the report, the EPA stresses how accumulating data relating to man-made emissions is vital in terms of meeting the demands of climate change.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Drop

The greenhouse gas emissions report covers the six dominant greenhouse gases: perfluorocarbons (PFCs), carbon dioxide (CO2), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), methane, nitrous oxide (N20), and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6). Combined, the equivalent of 6,957 million metric tons of these left the US in 2008.

Greenhouse gases like CO2 are capable of contributing to climate change through absorbing solar rays and trapping them in the atmosphere.

US Emissions Decrease

As stated, 2008’s result represented an improvement over 2007, but still created a figure 13.5 per cent adrift of benchmark 1990 emission levels. The majority of the US emissions decrease is attributed to a dip in the amount of driving being done, and the amount of electricity being generated.

In related news, a separate report highlights how March 2010 was warmer than every other March that preceded it. It adds that temperatures recorded during the first three months of 2010 surpassed those recorded for the same period in all but three other previous years.

Released by NOAA – the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration– the report quantifies the average worldwide, combined temperature for the ocean and the land at 1.39 Fahrenheit over the 20th century March average.

“Warmer-than-normal conditions dominated the globe, especially in northern Africa, South Asia and Canada”, the administration says.

These temperatures will probably be viewed as positive support for ideas that climate change is already happening, and that urgent global action is needed to address it.

See also:

US CO2 Emissions from Fossil Fuels Down 2.8%