Carbon Emissions Nosedive in U.S.

Spoiler alert: this story has a great ending, but leaves just enough unknown to set us up for a sequel. It’s unclear whether the sequel will be a romantic comedy or a horror flick. It all depends on how many solar panels you shingle your house with.

For the time being, though, we’re watching a feel-good story unfold. According to Lester R. Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute, an environmental think tank, the United States has turned a corner into an era where American-as-carbon-spewing-Earth-wrecker is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. “Peak carbon,” he writes on the institute's Web site, “is now history.”

Break out the local, organic bubbly! “What had appeared to be hopelessly difficult is happening at amazing speed,” Brown writes.

So what are the facts? Dare we believe?

His data, extrapolated for the full 2009 year, shows that the U.S. will see a 5 percent decline in oil use and a 10 percent drop in coal. In 2008 and 2009 combined, the country will accomplish a 9 percent reduction in carbon emissions from burning all fossil fuels. Last year saw 102 wind farms come online, and this year 22 coal-fired power plants were replaced by greener operations like wood chip plants. Solar cell installations are skyrocketing by 40 percent a year, and in 2009, Americans scrapped 4 million more cars than they bought new.

The good news seems to be true! Brown brings us the final word: “The energy efficiency revolution that is now under way will transform everything from lighting to transportation.”

But what will the future hold? ”We do not yet know how much we can cut carbon emissions because we are just beginning to make a serious effort,” writes Brown. “Whether we can move fast enough to avoid catastrophic climate change remains to be seen.”

Photo courtesy of jondoig, via Flickr