Posted on 08/18/2012 5:10:50 PM PDT by newzjunkey
PITTSBURGH (AP) — In a surprising turnaround, the amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere in the U.S. has fallen dramatically to its lowest level in 20 years, and government officials say the biggest reason is that cheap and plentiful natural gas has led many power plant operators to switch from dirtier-burning coal.
Many of the world's leading climate scientists didn't see the drop coming, in large part because it happened as a result of market forces rather than direct government action against carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere.
Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State University, said the shift away from coal is reason for "cautious optimism" about potential ways to deal with climate change. He said it demonstrates that "ultimately people follow their wallets" on global warming.
"There's a very clear lesson here. What it shows is that if you make a cleaner energy source cheaper, you will displace dirtier sources," said Roger Pielke Jr., a climate expert at the University of Colorado ...
While conservation efforts, the lagging economy and greater use of renewable energy are factors in the CO2 decline, the drop-off is due mainly to low-priced natural gas, the agency said.
A frenzy of shale gas drilling in the Northeast's Marcellus Shale and in Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana has caused the wholesale price of natural gas to plummet from $7 or $8 per unit to about $3 over the past four years, making it cheaper to burn than coal for a given amount of energy produced. As a result, utilities are relying more than ever on gas-fired generating plants ...
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
Virginia Tech never employed Mann but University of Virginia did. So, no, he wasn’t a Hokey stick ~
Post #16 before the truth be told. Congratulations!
CO2 might be down, but CO is WAY, WAY UP.
If Obama would just STFU.
HEY! KEVIN BEGOS!
You wrote “ - - - and CO2 levels globally are rising, not falling.”
This is curious because NOWHERE in your article do you mention what the MEASURED CO2 Levels are for the US.
Fancy headline that CO2 emissions drop, but nothing on measured CO2 Levels.
For example, did US measured CO2 level go up due to the drought killing off the corn, and thus leaving more CO2 in the air instead of in cornstalks?
NEXT time you write an article, give us some facts, MEASURED facts.
That was so hokey/sarc
ping
Carbon is life. That’s why Leftists hate it so.
Liberalism is all about the seen, not the unseen. For Progressives, logic barely dents the frontal eminence. The consequences of communism are for the little people.
Shutting down thousands of businesses an un-employing 20% of the work force might have a little to do with that, huh?
Maybe algore can sue for a recount?
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Global Warming on Free Republic
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