Power Plant Carbon Emissions Outpace Energy Production (AP)
Carbon emissions increased faster than electricity demand in 2007. As much as two-thirds of the greenhouse gas increase was due to increased demand for electricity, much of which was met by coal-fired power plants. Can we hope to make progress against greenhouse gases and continue to exempt ageing coal plants from the Clean Air Act of 1970?
March 19, 2008
A report by the Environmental Integrity Project said that the amount of carbon dioxide released by U.S. power plants grew by nearly three percent last year, the largest annual increase in nearly a decade.
The 2.9 percent increase in CO2 releases outpaced a 2.3 percent year-to-year increase in electricity production, according to the report, whose analysis of government emissions figures covered more than 1,000 power plants.
Coal largely to blame
The report's publisher, an environmental advocacy group, blames the reduced efficiency of older coal-burning power plants.The 800 oldest coal plants in the nation are grandfathered under the Clean Air Act of 1970. The absence of emission constraints makes their electricity among the cheapest available. That means old coal plants are popular with utilities as base load generators, so the dirtiest plants are often are some of the largest coal burners.
In his AP wire story "Power plant CO2 increases by 3 percent," reporter Josef Hebert recalls that President Bush recently cited a 1.3 percent decline in overall CO2 emissions in 2006, compared to a year earlier. Much of that decline was attributed to a mild winter and cool summer, which resulted in less energy demand for heating and cooling. Energy demand is dependent on a variety of factors ranging from weather to economic growth.
A spokesperson for the Edison Electric Institute told AP that as much as two-thirds of the CO2 increase in 2007 was due to increased demand for electricity. More demand means more generation, and that translates to burning more coal and other fossil fuels. Power plants account for nearly two billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year, about a third of the U.S. total. Just over 40 percent of our power is generated using coal.
Q&A
Where is Texas? The top of the list of states where the most power-plant CO2 came from, 262 million tons. Ohio was second.What is Scherer? The coal-burning power plant operated by Georgia Power that produced the most CO2 in 2007, about 27 million tons, and showed a year-to-year increase of 7.4 percent. A utility spokesperson explained, "Georgia is one of the fastest-growing states in the country. Our demand for energy is growing."
Who is John Hoeven? He's the proud governor of North Dakota, where power plants released the most CO2 per megawatt-hour of electricity generated. In other words, the dirtiest energy. Wyoming (Gov. Dave Freudenthal) is second.