Reduction in emissions not due to gas

JAMES BARTH
Posted 7/5/17

Carol Roig, in her June 8 column, incorrectly stated that carbon emissions have been lowered by 27% since 2005. Charles Petersheim, in his subsequent letter, gleefully agreed to this 27% figure and …

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Reduction in emissions not due to gas

Posted

Carol Roig, in her June 8 column, incorrectly stated that carbon emissions have been lowered by 27% since 2005. Charles Petersheim, in his subsequent letter, gleefully agreed to this 27% figure and erroneously credited shale gas extraction and consumption for most of the decrease in emissions that has occurred. Neither of them bothered to give sources for the misinformation they present.

From 2005 to 2016, CO2 emissions decreased 14%, according to the U.S. energy information administration, from which I draw the data cited in this letter (https://tinyurl.com/lv23q2q).

From 2005 through 2009, CO2 emissions decreased by 9.4%. During 2008 and 2009 alone, they decreased a combined 10.2%, which offset any minimal increases in 2005 to 2007 (https://tinyurl.com/y9ahv3dc.)

Gas consumption in the U.S. for the year 2000 was 23,333 Mmcf (million cubic feet). In 2008, it was 23,279 Mmcf. In 2009, gas consumption dropped to 22,910 Mmcf (https://tinyurl.com/jh4mkds).

Mr. Petersheim, and all shale gas apologists, might ask themselves how the use of gas could possibly have been the cause of lower CO2 emissions from 2005 to 2009 when gas consumption in the U.S. actually decreased slightly.

The great recession, starting in 2008-2009, was the major driving force that lowered CO2 emissions. As a result of the recession, coupled with strong conservation and energy efficiency efforts, demand for electricity dropped and coal consumption, which generated 50% of electricity in the U.S. in 2008, dropped to 44.5% by 2010, as 50-plus-year-old coal power plants were closed as a result of the decreased demand. Gas consumption remained static during that decade. Indeed, demand for electricity generation is still almost 1.5% lower today than it was in 2007, while GDP has increased 15% (https://tinyurl.com/ycp4evub).

Massive investment in wind and solar electricity generation, combined with continued increases in energy-efficient autos, homes and appliances is the answer to CO2 and GHG emissions. This path is also the correct economic plan for the 21st century. Investment in shale gas extraction and infrastructure is a continuation of a 20th-century economic plan that does not serve our 21st-century needs, while the pollution and contamination that extraction and burning creates continues to destroy our planet and our health. 

[James Barth is a resident of Beach Lake, PA.]

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