State-by-state carbon dioxide emissions comparison

This post is brought to you by  Curt Rosengren ~ Passion Catalyst TM   "Love your work. Change your world."

When it comes to CO2 emissions, some states get it, some states don't. The associated press recently did a state-by-state comparison of emissions. What did they find?

The review   shows startling   differences in states’ contribution to climate change.

The biggest reason? The burning of high-carbon coal to produce cheap electricity.

•   Wyoming’s coal-fired power plants produce more carbon dioxide in just     eight hours than the power generators of more populous Vermont do in a year.

•   Texas, the leader in emitting this greenhouse gas, cranks out more than the next     two biggest producers combined, California and Pennsylvania, which together have     twice Texas’ population.

• In sparsely populated Alaska, the carbon dioxide produced per person   by all the flying and driving is six times the per capita amount generated by   travelers     in New York state.

The article points out that, for example, Wyoming "exports" a large amount of the electricity it generates through coal, so some of Wyoming's poor performance on emissions can be attributed to energy consumption in other states. Still...

On a per-person basis, Wyoming spews more carbon dioxide than any other state     or any other country: 276,000 pounds of it per capita a year, thanks to burning     coal, which provides nearly all of the state’s electrical power.

Yet, just next door to the west, Idaho emits the least carbon dioxide per     person, less than 23,000 pounds a year. Idaho forbids coal power plants.     It relies     mostly on non-polluting hydroelectric power from its rivers.

Texas, where coal barely edges out cleaner natural gas as the top power source,     belches almost 1-1/2 trillion pounds of carbon dioxide yearly. That’s     more than every nation in the world except six: The United States, China,     Russia, Japan, India and Germany.

Of course, Texas is a very populous state. North Dakota isn’t, but its     power plants crank out 68 percent more carbon dioxide than New Jersey, which     has 13 times North Dakota’s residents.

And while Californians have cut their per-person carbon dioxide emissions     by 11 percent from 1990 to 2003, Nebraskans have increased their per capita     emissions     by 16 percent over the same time frame.

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Comments

[Fred]

Check this site out, has United States Interactive Carbon Footprint Map, illustrating Greenest States. This site has all sorts of stats on individual State energy consumptions, demographics and State energy offices.

http://www.eredux.com/states/

[PM]

Everybody should learn about electric cars as a solution. It’s amazing how far the technology has come. One of the main electric car companies, Zap, has delivered over 100,000 EV’s. (source: zapworld.com). EV’s cost 1 to 3 cents per mile to run, compare that to regular cars!

[PM]

Everybody should learn about electric cars as a solution. It’s amazing how far the technology has come. One of the main electric car companies, Zap, has delivered over 100,000 EV’s. (source: zapworld.com). EV’s cost 1 to 3 cents per mile to run, compare that to regular cars!

[Noclegi Ustka]

Carbon is the past. Green energy is a feature , but corporations blocked new technology. Do you remember what was heppend with CDROM pathent? Japans take in iron hand this patent - because "piracy will made the music and films"...e

[Wczasy Kołobrzeg]

Thats right Noclegi Ustka - it is a true.

[scott]

well lets see. texas producesall that carbon, because they are on the gulf coast where all the refineries are. build a refinery in oh lets say new hampshire, vermont, south carolina, you know all those green states that dont produce anything. you dnt get power for free, nor do you get gas for free. the us has not built a new rfinery for gasoline in oh 30 years or so. we can not keep up with demand during a natural disaster as it is. huricane in texas cuts off fuel suplys to the south east. any of this sinking in. global warming is cyclical, and not man made. and there is no point in praising vermont for not producing greenhouse gasses, just send all 250 people up there a card.