Lower Emissions In the US and Germany, and Out With Coal, In With Solar
The news group Heatmap reported that “America’s carbon emissions fell for the frist time since the Covid lockdown” (This is behind a paywall, but you can access it one time by creating a free account.) It was based on a report from the Rhodium Group. While the decrease was modest, it occurred as the economy grew (as opposed to the decrease during the economic slowdown during the Covid lockdown). Much of that is due to less power generated by coal. From the Heatmap article:
“America’s greenhouse gas pollution from energy and industrial activities fell by 1.9% in 2023 compared to the year before, even as the broader American economy grew, according to the Rhodium Group, an energy research firm. It’s the first time this decade that the United States has hit the important mark of growing its economy and cutting its climate pollution at the same time.
“…America’s carbon emissions peaked in 2005, when the U.S. released nearly 7.5 billion tons of greenhouse gases. Since then, the economy has kept growing, but climate pollution has slowly fallen. Last year, America emitted as much carbon as it did in 1991, when the economy was roughly a quarter of its current size.”
Germany also had a huge decrease in emissions due to less use of coal in 2023. Unfortunately, most of this was due to “unpredictable social or economic activity” but “about 15% of the savings was due to sustainable ‘permanent emissions reductions.’” In particular the transport and building sectors did not have better emissions profiles. Still, 15% full rather than 85% empty! The report goes on to say, “Germany did break records for its renewable power installations in 2023. Installations of solar energy in particular managed to meet government targets, with wind power also seeing record uptake…” They point out these improvements in renewables, great as they are, did not reach their targets due to “long and complicated permitting rules.” That is a tractable problem; we can change rules!
In the January 12, 2024 Today’s Climate column by Kristoffer Tigue, part of inside Climate News, he reports that Minnesota took a huge step in decreasing coal use and greenhouse gas emissions by closing the largest source of carbon emissions in the state: the Sherburne County Generating Station, Minnesota’s largest power plant and among the biggest coal-fired power plants in the Midwest. The coal-fired plant is to be replaced by the nation’s largest solar farm! The “turn from coal to solar is like taking 780,000 cars off the road!” There is a price to pay: the workers and communities around the plant will take a big economic hit. Jeremy Richardson (manager of RMI, a clean energy think tank) “thinks it’s important to continue having a discussion about how to best support coal communities and how society should split up that responsibility fairly between involved parties, including community members, ratepayers and utilities.” We must have climate justice at every level.