U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases in 2000 rose for the ninth year since 1990, up 2.5 percent from 1999 levels, according to preliminary data published in the Energy Information Administration's Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the United States 2000 (see table). U.S. emissions have risen in all but 2 years since 1990 and have averaged an annual growth rate of 1.3 percent.

The latest edition of the annual report details changes in U.S. emissions of four major categories of greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and an important group of engineered gases.

Carbon dioxide
Emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the chief greenhouse gas from human-caused sources, rose 3.1 percent in 2000 and accounted for 83 percent of U.S. total carbon-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions; 81 percent of the total was due to CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion. The sharpest upturn in 2000 was in the electric power sector, where emissions jumped 4.7 percent, nearly double the sector's average annual increase from 1990 to 2000. The increase was driven in part by a shift in power generation from renewable fuels (especially hydroelectric power), which declined 11 percent, to fossil fuels; coal-fired generation rose 4.3 percent and natural-gas fired generation rose 7.1 percent in 2000.

Industrial CO2 emissions were essentially flat in 2000, despite robust economic growth. Industrial energy consumption is highly concentrated, and six groups -- petroleum refining; chemicals; primary metals; paper; food; and stone, clay, and glass -- account for more than two-thirds of all industrial CO2 emissions. Economic growth in those six groups was sluggish or even negative (paper) in 2000.

Transportation-sector carbon dioxide emissions rose 3.1 percent in 2000. Although gasoline consumption grew only 0.6 percent, emissions from the use of jet fuel rose 3.4 percent and those from distillate fuel (primarily diesel) rose 4.6 percent.

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Methane
Emissions of methane, which account for about 9 percent of U.S. carbon-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions, declined 1.6 percent in 2000. Three sources -- energy, waste management, and agriculture -- account for 99 percent of U.S. methane emissions. Energy-related emissions were basically unchanged at 11.0 million metric tons. Agricultural emissions, which are dominated by emissions from domestic livestock and their decomposing wastes, rose slightly. However, emissions from waste management fell 7 percent, building on underlying longterm trends in the volume of waste landfilled (down) and in landfill gas captured (up), and benefiting from a surge in newly online methane recovery systems.

Nitrous oxide
Emissions of nitrous oxide, which accounts for about 5 percent of U.S. carbon-equivalent emissions, declined an estimated 0.6 percent in 2000. Agricultural sources, especially nitrogen fertilization of soils, produced about 70 percent of the total. Another 23 percent can be laid to fossil fuel use, particularly vehicles equipped with catalytic converters.

Hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride
Emissions of these engineered gases (HFCs, PFCs, and SF6 respectively), which account for about 2.5 percent of the Nation's carbon-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions, rose 4.5 percent in 2000. An 8.3 percent rise in HFC emissions accounted for nearly all the aggregate increase and is mainly due to HFCs' widening use as replacements for chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), now being phased out by international treaty.

Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the United States 2000, DOE/EIA-0573(00); 105 pages, 35 tables, 10 figures.

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File last modified: November 26, 2001