Vehicles (Still) Bigger Emissions Source Than Power Plants in United States

by Alyssa Danigelis (Environmental Leader) The amount of carbon dioxide emissions from the transportation sector continues to exceed the amount from electricity production in the United States, according to the latest data from the US Energy Information Administration. The shift that started last year reveals the challenges to cutting transportation emissions as well as new opportunities, especially for corporate fleets.

Last year, the country’s transportation sector, including cars, trucks, planes, trains, and boats, emitted 1.879 billion metric tons of CO2 compared to 1.821 billion metric tons total from the electric power sector, the EIA’s report shows. The totals from the first eight months of this year are 1.260 billion from transportation and 1.179 billion from electric power production.

Ceres’ Carol Lee Rawn, director of the organization’s transportation program told Environmental Leader last year that corporations can reduce their transportation carbon footprints by supporting strong vehicle and fuel standards to ensure cleaner fuels and vehicles will be available. READ MORE

Excerpt from Union of Concerned Scientists: A new Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) study, “Time for a U Turn: Automakers’ History of Intransigence and an Opportunity for Change,” details how, for seven decades, leaders in the auto industry have resisted new policies with misleading claims and political interference. History seems to be repeating itself today, as automakers lobby to weaken federal efficiency and emissions rules.

“America’s automakers thrive when they’re innovating,” said Margo Oge, the former director of the EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality. “Emissions regulations have historically spurred innovation, and the industry has always beat their own cost and performance targets in complying. Working towards the 2025 standards, the U.S. auto industry has come roaring back in profitability and sales. Today, Americans have more choices than ever, and the safest and cleanest cars in history. The new technologies are creating high paying jobs and making the industry a leader again, globally. Automakers must stop trying to shift us into reverse.”

“Time for a U-Turn” shows that, despite their historic claims, automakers can innovate to meet health, safety and environmental standards that have delivered real benefits to America’s drivers. Today, automakers are meeting or even exceeding the standards they helped to design in 2010, and drivers have saved nearly $50 billion at the pump as a result. READ MORE