Wednesday, May 22, 2013

A Feast Of Positive Pollution Facts: NRDC & Ceres Document Renewable and Gas Sharply Cut Power Plant Air Pollution


Here is what the first sentence of the press release announcing a key NRDC and Ceres study says:
"A major new report on U.S. power plant emissions from the top 100 power producers shows that the electric industry cut emissions of NOx, SOand CO2 in 2011 even as overall electricity generation increased, largely due to increased use of natural gas and growing reliance on renewable energy."
http://www.ceres.org/press/press-releases/new-report-reveals-states-and-utilities-with-highest-and-lowest-power-plant-emissions-overall-u.s.-emissions-decline.

The full report is well worth reading, especially if you like reading positive facts and trends about air quality
http://www.nrdc.org/air/pollution/benchmarking/files/benchmarking-2013.pdf.

At the 100 largest electricity generation companies, nitrogen oxide pollution and sulfur dioxide pollution is down 70% and 72% respectively from 1990 to 2011.  Mercury emissions are down 40% since 2000.

From the 100 largest electricity generation companies, carbon dioxide emissions are up 20% since 1990 but down 7% from 2008 to 2011.  Their carbon emissions significantly fell again in 2012 but this report does not include last year.

Thank you to NRDC and Ceres for this feast of positive environmental and pollution facts and trends!





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