Friday August 16th, 2012

A recent EIA reports exciting news that energy efficiency, renewable energy and natural gas have been steadily decoupling emissions and economic growth in America. Previously, it was argued that emissions were a necessary by product of a strong economy.

From the ever-informative John Hanger’s Facts of the Day:

“The once tight link between carbon emissions and economic growth in the USA is breaking.  Consider that since 1990 US GDP has grown 66%, but energy related carbon emissions have increased just 9%.   www.eia.gov/environment/emissions/carbon/.  While the link has been weakening year after year, as the carbon intensity of the US economy lessens, it completely broke in 2011.

Last year, US GDP increased 1.8% but carbon emissions fell 2.4%, according to the official 2011 EIA data.    The carbon intensity, a measure of how much carbon is required to produce each dollar of GDP, declined 4.2%.
More natural gas, renewable energy, and energy efficiency are breaking the link between GDP growth and carbon pollution. What would completely shatter the link would be economic carbon capture and storage technology.  Developing such technology should be a top priority for research and development in the USA and around the world.”

Click to read more.