On October 12, 2016, the Energy Information Administration reported that “Energy-related CO2 emissions for first six months of 2016 are lowest since 1991.” The EIA gave three reasons for the drop in CO2 emissions.
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Mild weather. Of course, if global warming is our solution to reducing CO2 emissions, we better come up with something that works in the summer as well as the winter.
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A decrease in coal consumption of 18% from 2015.
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An increase in renewable fuel use of 9% from 2015. Wind supplied half the increase; hydroelectric power supplied 35%, and solar supplied 13%.
I understand concerns about how fast we need to de-carbonize the economy, but it’s better to be moving in the right direct rather than the reverse.