Though it remains to be seen whether this year’s oil and petrol price hikes will prompt a fall in emissions stateside, it’s clear that prior to this summer’s events Americans were failing to get the green message.
According to Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the United States 2007, a report released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), there was an increase in greenhouse gas emissions of 1.4 per cent over the course of last year.
The figures do not make for happy reading – since 1990, US greenhouse gas emissions have increased at an annual rate of 0.9 per cent. The transportation sector leads all end-use sectors in terms of carbon dioxide emissions and stood some 431.8million metric tons higher than in 1990 – an increase of 44 per cent.
Petroleum combustion is the largest source of carbon dioxide in the transportation sector, something the industry is now attempting to tackle with measures to introduce more green cars relying on alternative fuels.
Increases in ethanol fuel consumption have helped to mitigate the growth somewhat although we are unlikely to see a clear guide as to its impact until 2008 figures are released.
According to Green Car Congress, total estimated US GHG emissions in 2007 consisted of 6,022 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (82.6 per cent of total emissions); 700 MMTCO 2e of methane (9.6 per cent of total emissions); 384 MMTCO 2e of nitrous oxide (5.3 per cent of total emissions); and 177 MMTCO 2e of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF 6) (2.4 per cent of total emissions).
