According to a recently released report by The Environmental Integrity Project, carbon dioxide emissions from power plants in the U.S. rose by 5.56% in 2010 over the previous year — the biggest annual increase since 1995.
Using data gathered by the EPA, Environmental Integrity released this study that names the top 10 offenders. Florida's power plants rank second, right after Texas, having emitted 130,324,532 tons of CO2 in 2010, an increase from the 119,960,137 tons emitted in 2009.
Not surprising is the fact that 2010 was also the warmest year on record (having tied with 2005) and that nine of the 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 2000. CO2 is a greenhouse gas which has been linked to global warming, so is it just a coincidence that the hottest year on record occurred when our carbon emissions rose?
This article appears in Feb 24 – Mar 2, 2011.