Coal consumption emissions impact CO2 drop
An Energy Information Administration (EIA) analysis maintains fewer emissions from coal consumption contributed to the expected 2019 energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions decrease.
The EIA’s Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) forecasted a 2.2 percent decrease in CO2 emissions for 2019, after a 2.7 percent rise in energy-related CO2 emissions in 2018.
The breakdown revealed the first quarter of 2019 was largely similar to the first quarter of 2018, with the EIA estimating in 2019’s first quarter energy-related emissions totaled 1,367 million metric tons (MMmt), nearly equal to those in the first quarter of 2018.
The first three months of the year is typically the period with the highest CO2 emissions domestically, per the EIA, and heavily influences the overall annual trend.
The EIA noted in the past 30 years, only six years have had an overall annual emissions trend that was different than that of the year’s first quarter.
Because the electric power sector consumes nearly 92 percent of the coal used in the United States, expectations for overall lower electricity demand and a lower share of coal-fired electricity over the summer led EIA to forecast lower coal CO2 emissions.
The EIA’s expectation was CO2 emissions from petroleum consumption, which the determined had increased in each of the past six years, would be virtually flat in 2019.
