Power Plants, Cars Main Culprits
Cited in Report
CONCORD—Global warming pollution in New Hampshire increased by 50% between 1990
and 2004, according to The Carbon Boom,
a new analysis of state fossil fuel consumption data released today by
Environment New Hampshire. This is the first
time that 2004 state-by-state data on carbon dioxide emissions have been
released.
“Given
the risks from global warming, it’s incredibly irresponsible for New Hampshire’s global
warming pollution to increase. It’s like
the doctor telling you that you need to go on a serious diet, but instead you
go straight for the Ben & Jerry’s,” said Environment New Hampshire’s Erika
Staaf.
Environment
New Hampshire’s
report comes less than a week after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change, a U.N. body charged with assessing the scientific record on global
warming, released its consensus report on the current and projected impacts of
global warming. The report warned of increasing droughts, floods,
heat waves, water stress, forest fires, and coastal flooding in the United
States but
concluded that “many impacts can be avoided, reduced, or delayed” by
quickly and significantly reducing global warming pollution.
“Unfortunately,
there remains a disconnect between state policies recognizing the need to
reduce greenhouse gases in particular and business as usual in areas of
highways and mass transit, zoning and land use, and various codes and
rulemaking that trend away from reducing greenhouse gases,” said Roger
Stephenson of Clean Air-Cool Planet. “If
we are going to succeed in making the kinds of reductions that are necessary,
then reducing energy use through efficiency and conservation, and switching to
renewable energy sources need to be top of mind for all state agency managers
and legislators.”
Using
data compiled by the U.S. Department of Energy, Environment New Hampshire’s new
report examines trends in carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel consumption
between 1990 and 2004, the most recent year for which state-by-state data are
available.
Major
findings of the report include:
- New Hampshire’s carbon dioxide emissions
from fossil fuel consumption grew from 14.5 million metric tons to 21.7
million metric tons between 1990 and 2004, an increase of 50%.
- Nationwide, emissions of
carbon dioxide from fossil fuel consumption increased by 18% between 1990 and 2004. Coal-fired power plants and the
transportation sector—especially cars and SUVs—drove this emissions
increase.
- In New Hampshire, carbon
dioxide emissions from burning gasoline (primarily in cars and SUVs)
increased by 42% between 1990
and 2004, rising from 4.3 million metric tons to 6.1 million metric tons. Between 1990 and 2004, vehicle miles
traveled in New Hampshire
increased by 34%, while cars
and SUVs became less efficient.
"Rapidly accumulating science shows that
carbon dioxide pollution poses a dire threat to the lives and well
being of hundreds of millions of people,” said Jim Rubens of the Union of
Concerned Scientists. “New Hampshire and
America
are fortunate because we can turn our rich resources in entrepreneurship
and clean energy into major new economic opportunities and, at the
same time substantially mitigate the risks of carbon pollution."
The New Hampshire and the United States could substantially
reduce its global warming pollution by using existing technologies to make
power plants, businesses, homes, and cars more efficient and increasing the use
of clean, renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power.
New Hampshire has begun to address global
warming in some sectors. Pending state
legislation for a Renewable Energy Standard (HB 873) would require that nearly
20 percent of New Hampshire’s
electricity be generated by clean, renewable sources by 2020. Governor Lynch has also signed New Hampshire into a
regional cap-and-trade program to reduce global warming pollution from state
power plants. However, New
Hampshire remains the only state in New
England not to have passed the Clean Cars Standard, which would
bring more clean vehicles to the state.
Transportation is the number one contributor to global warming pollution
in New Hampshire.
Federally,
the Safe Climate Act (H.R. 1590), introduced by Representative Henry Waxman
(CA) in the House, and the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act (S. 309),
introduced by Senators Bernie Sanders (VT) and Barbara Boxer (CA) in the
Senate, would limit global warming pollution to levels that current science
says are needed to prevent the worst effects of global warming. The bills would freeze U.S. global warming emissions in
2010 and reduce emissions by about 15% by 2020 and by 80% by 2050.
“To
protect future generations, our leaders must take decisive action to cut global
warming pollution. Environment New Hampshire calls on Senators
Gregg and Sununu to co-sponsor the only bill that does what scientists say we
need to do—the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act,” concluded Staaf. “We commend Representatives Hodes and
Shea-Porter for co-sponsoring the Safe Climate Act, a critical piece of
legislation.”
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Environment New Hampshire is a
statewide citizen-based environmental advocacy organization.
