3 ms·
The headline, while certainly nice to hear, doesn't fully capture the reality that this is not all good news (while the use of "cleaner" fuels is). Global warmi
by millerski150 14y ago
The headline, while certainly nice to hear, doesn't fully capture the reality that this is not all good news (while the use of "cleaner" fuels is). Global warming has caused our winters to be warmer, which reduces energy demand (and thus emissions) from the most demanding time of year.
From the source of the article: http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=7350 http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=7350
"However, CO2 emissions during January-March 2012 were low due to a combination of three factors:
A mild winter that reduced household heating demand and therefore energy use
A decline in coal-fired electricity generation, due largely to historically low natural gas prices
Reduced gasoline demand"
- Daniel_Newby 14y agoThis is just normal weather cycles at work. A few years earlier the winters were cold and the summers mild.
- millerski150 14y agoI'm not sure the "13 years of average global temperatures have all occurred in the 15 years since 1997" is "normal. [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/8923881/Durban-Climate-Change-Conference-13-of-worlds-hottest-years-on-record-have-been-in-last-15-years.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/8...]
- Daniel_Newby 14y agoI ignore temperature claims like that one. There are too many politically-motivated lies being pushed in the name of science.
- jussij 14y agoUnlike the minority of scientists that don't believe in climate change. They certainly couldn't be financially motivated by the big oil and coal companies.
- h123b 14y agoI'm not a global warming alarmist, but where does that state that global warming is the cause for less energy use?
- millerski150 14y agoI'm reading between the lines a bit. The theory of global warming is that the world's average temperatures are rising. The warming has been attributed in part to rising C02 levels. Because winters consume the most energy of any season (in the article) to heat, we emit the most c02 during that season. Given that the planet is warming, the winters are milder (quoted above) (see this article on 13 of the hottest years on record have occurred in the last 15). Because winters are milder (because global warming), they require less energy to produce for heating. The section I'm referring to is: ""However, CO2 emissions during January-March 2012 were low due to a combination of three factors: A mild winter that reduced household heating demand and therefore energy use"
- mhb 14y agoThe mild winter is an effect because of the time period at which they're looking. Without additional data, one might expect that global warming implies both warmer winters and warmer summers. Total heating in winter uses more energy than cooling in summer because there is a bigger difference between the outdoor temperature and the target temperature in winter than in summer. Just based on this article, one would expect the delta of warmer winters and warmer summers to roughly offset each other. So it doesn't seem sound to conclude, based on this article, that, if the CO2 emissions were looked at over a full year, that the warmer winter would result in a net CO2 reduction.
- bromley 14y agoAlso, cooling systems are generally less efficient than heating systems, which would increase summer energy consumption (and CO2) more than the reduction in winter. That's assuming the overall US climate (by which I mean population- or energy-consumption-weighted degree days) necessitated similar amounts of winter heating and summer cooling.