Figure 1. Source: U.S. Energy Information Agency.

Climate change results from greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Inventories of U.S. GHG emissions consistently show that the majority of our emissions consist of carbon dioxide (CO2) from burning fossil fuel to create energy. This post looks at state emissions of CO2 from burning fossil fuel to create energy. Missouri did two GHG inventories in the early 1990s, but hasn’t done one since. Thus, this data is as close as we can come to assessing Missouri’s progress in reducing GHG emissions. The most recent data is through 2013.

Figure 1 shows that in Missouri CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuel to create energy grew 13% from 2000-2005, then began a decline through 2012 that reversed most of the growth. In 2013 they began increasing again. In 2013, CO2 emissions were 4.3% above the 2000 level.

Figure 2. Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Figure 2 shows similar data for Missouri and 4 neighboring states: Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, and Kansas. Kansas and Illinois have reduced their emissions, though only by a small amount. The other states have increased emissions, Arkansas the most at 6.6%.

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Figure 3. Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Figure 3 shows change in CO2 emissions from 2000 to 2013 for all 50 states plus for the USA in total. Only 13 states have increased CO2 emissions over that period. The other 38 (list includes District of Columbia) have reduced CO2 emissions, in some instances by more than 25%. Nationwide, CO2 emissions are down 9.6%.

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Figure 4: Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (a and b).

Figure 4 shows 2013 CO2 emissions from Missouri by Sector. The blue columns show the raw data. CO2 emissions from generating electric power dwarf those from any other sector. Electric utilities, however, don’t generate electricity for their own consumption, they generate it for others to use. The EIA keeps data on the sectors into which utilities sell their electricity, and it can be used to distribute their CO2 emissions to their end use sectors. Almost all of it goes to the Commercial, Residential, and Industrial Sectors. The red columns show the results.

The data suggest that converting electricity generation to renewable sources would probably be the the single most effective way to reduce Missouri CO2 emissions. To reduce CO2 emissions by reducing energy consumption in end use sectors, the Residential, Transportation, and Commercial sectors would all be of similar importance.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that we need to make significant reductions in CO2 emissions – 50% or more – if we are to avoid the worst effects of climate change. All states have a long way to go; most appear to have made some progress. Not Missouri.

In the coming weeks, I’m going to offer some posts that suggest that completely converting to renewable energy would require covering huge amounts of the country with wind and solar farms, without even considering the need for redundancy, excess capacity, and storage, all of which would be required. It would be a huge task.

That notwithstanding, Missouri’s performance on this metric is shameful. The fact that it is a huge, difficult task means that we aren’t going to be able to accomplish this transition overnight. We need to get cracking, and there is no excuse for avoiding it. I fear we will pay a heavy price for our inaction.

Sources:

United States Energy Information Administration. 2016. Table 1: State Energy-Related Carbon Dioxide Emissions by Year (2000-2013). http://www.eia.gov/environment/emissions/state/analysis.

United States Energy Information Administration. “Sales and Revenue, 2013.” Form EIA 826 Detailed Data, Electricity. http://www.eig.gov/electricity/data/eia826/#salesrevenue.