Explaining the 2018 Increase
Daniel Klein, President of Twenty-First Strategies, has over forty years of experience in energy, environmental, and economic analysis. He works with energy companies, government agencies, NGOs, and others on issues of climate change, energy security, strategic planning, sustainability, and related policies.
With the publication of the U.S. Energy Information Administration's March 2019 Monthly Energy Review, we have the first full year, though preliminary, estimates of 2018 U.S. energy use and carbon dioxide emissions.
For the U.S., the Energy Information Administration's initial estimates of total energy-related 2018 carbon dioxide emissions are 5,274 million metric tons, an increase of one hundred and forty-three million metric tons (2.8 percent), above 2017 emissions. The 2018 increase in emissions is in contrast to the general overall long-term downward trend seen since 2005.
Nearly all of the one hundred and forty-three million metric ton increase in carbon dioxide emissions in 2018 occurred in the non-electric portions of the residential, commercial, industrial, and transportation sectors, particularly on a percentage basis. Emissions from the electric power sector rose twenty-five million metric tons, or 1.4 percent higher than in 2017, representing about one-sixth of the total U.S. emissions increase in 2018.
Within the electric power sector, emissions rose in 2018 because the increase in generation outpaced the decrease in carbon intensity. Electricity generation in 2018 generation grew 3.6 percent, in contrast to several recent years of little to no change in total electricity generation.