WASHINGTON, DC, May 22, 2009 (ENS) - Energy demand across the United States fell in 2008, leading to the largest annual decline in energy-related carbon dioxide emissions since the federal government began annual reporting on greenhouse gas emissions in 1990.
Record-high oil prices and a decline in economic activity in the second half of the year resulted in a decrease of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions of 2.8 percent last year, according to preliminary estimates issued Wednesday by the federal Energy Information Administration.
Energy-related carbon dioxide emissions account for more than 80 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
These emissions decreased from 5,967 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2007 to 5,802 MMTCO2 in 2008, the EIA reported.
The economy, as measured by Gross Domestic Product, GDP, grew by 1.1 percent in 2008, even taking into account the economic downturn at the end of the year, but energy demand declined by 2.2 percent, indicating that energy intensity - energy use per unit of GDP - fell by 3.3 percent in 2008, the agency said.
Carbon dioxide intensity - carbon dioxide emission per unit of GDP - fell by about 3.8 percent, the EIA estimates. …
U.S. Energy-Related Carbon Dioxide Emissions Down in 2008
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