Liquid fuels and coal produce the majority of US CO2 emissions
The three end-uses of energy in America contribute 5,890 million tonnes of CO2; emissions each year:
- Electricity – 2,345 million tonnes of CO2 emissions, or 40% of the total emissions by end-use, are emitted into the atmosphere each year for the purposes of power generation, making it the largest contributor of CO2 emissions among end-uses. Coal, at 1,938 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year, is the largest emitter among the fuels used for power generation by approximately 1,600 million tonnes (natural gas is second, at 340 million tonnes).
- Transportation – 1,985 million tonnes of CO2 are emitted each year due to transportation. At 1,952 million tonnes of CO2 per year, transportation-based emissions are almost 100% derived from liquid fuels.
- Thermal – 1,560 million tonnes of CO2 emissions are attributed to thermal, composed of 790 million tonnes from natural gas, 574 million tonnes from liquid fuels, and 196 million tonnes from coal.
For the three end-uses of energy, the five primary fuel sources emit approximately 5,890 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year:
- Liquid fuel – At 2,581 million tonnes of CO2 emissions, liquid fuels contribute the largest share of the total emissions in the US among the five sources. Transportation represents the largest end-use CO2 emission for liquid fuels, at 1,952 million tonnes per year.
- Coal – 2,134 million tonnes per year of CO2 emissions are attributed to coal, with 1,938 million tonnes of the emissions tied to the purpose of power generation. Behind liquid fuel, coal is the second largest CO2 emitter among the fuel sources.
- Natural gas – 1,163 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year are from natural gas consumption. Most of the natural gas CO2 emissions, at 790 million tonnes, are associated with the thermal end-use.
- Renewables – At 12 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year, almost all of renewable energy CO2 emissions are traced to power generation.
- Nuclear – No CO2 emissions are associated with nuclear energy.
Source: DOE, “Annual Energy Outlook 2008,” June 2008.
