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Slowing climate change
Seventy percent of residential emissions are associated with household electricity use.
© WWF / Canon - Anton Vorauer
Driven largely by increases in the use of fossil fuels and changes in land cover and land use, concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are growing and climate is changing rapidly. Through our fossil fuel use, Americans account for a large share of the growth in atmospheric carbon dioxide; and by reducing our consumption of fossil fuels, Americans can do much to reduce emissions and help slow climate change.
Fossil Fuel Use in the United States
Per capita emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels in the U.S. are more than four times the world average. Total emissions from the U.S. are increasing and in the absence of countervailing measures will continue to do so.
Total U.S. emissions from the consumption of fossil fuels in 2005 were nearly 6 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide – equivalent to the weight of over 1 billion African elephants. This is 21 percent of global emissions from fossil fuel consumption – even though the U.S. accounts for less than 5 percent of the world’s population. U.S. CO2 emissions from fossil fuel use have been going up. By 2006 they had increased over 15 percent above 1990 levels. In March 2008 the U.S. Energy Information Administration projected that energy-related emissions of CO2 may grow another 16 percent between 2006 and 2030.
In the U.S., CO2 is emitted when fossil fuels are burned for four end-use sectors:
- Residential (21 percent of total U.S. emissions). Seventy percent of residential emissions are associated with household electricity use (15 percent of total U.S. emissions).
- Commercial (18 percent of total U.S. emissions)
- Industrial (27 percent of total U.S. emissions)
- Transportation (33 percent of total U.S. emissions). Passenger transportation accounts for 25 percent of total U.S. emissions, with most of that being from passenger cars and light duty trucks.
In the residential sector, most petroleum and natural gas is used for space heating and – to a lesser extent – for water heating. The largest users of electricity in the residential sector are refrigerators, air conditioning, space heating, water heating and lights. Household lights account for roughly 9 percent of residential electricity use and therefore contribute approximately 1.4 percent of total U.S. CO2 emissions from fossil fuel use. The rest of the household electricity use (over 40 percent of the total) is used by the many other appliances in our homes, from clothes dryers to dishwashers.
Generally, the more energy we consume at home and on the road, the more we contribute to climate change.
What can we do about it
Globally, the current growth in emissions must be stopped as soon as possible; then emissions must be reduced well below their peak levels within decades – and the reductions must continue well beyond 2100. We must avoid warming the atmosphere by more than 2oC above pre-industrial levels.
Many actions to slow climate change can be taken in the United States at the household level. Other steps must be taken by government, businesses or other organizations. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the focal point for coordinated international efforts to address climate change.
International attention now has shifted to the period beyond 2012. In late 2007 the parties to the UNFCCC met in Bali, Indonesia, to begin a two-year negotiating process to hammer out a new agreement by the end of 2009. They agreed to a plan that emphasized “the urgency to address climate change” and recognized that “deep cuts in global emissions will be required to achieve the ultimate goal of the Convention.” The plan included a provision for “a long-term global goal for emission reductions,” but the parties did not endorse a specific emissions target -- leaving that for future negotiations.
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