The US Energy Information Administration published yesterday the numbers on the greenhose gas emissions from 2005. The ‘good’ news is the emissions ‘Growth Lower than Average in 2005′.

Quoted from press release:

Total U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were 7,147.2 million metric tons carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2e) in 2005, an increase of 0.6 percent from the 2004 level according to Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the United States 2005, a report released today by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Since 1990, GHG emissions have grown at an average annual rate of 1.0 percent.

The 2005 emissions increase is well below the rate of economic growth of 3.2 percent and below the average annual growth rate of 1.0 percent in greenhouse gas emissions since 1990. Emissions of carbon dioxide from energy consumption and industrial processes, which have risen at an average annual rate of 1.2 percent per year since 1990, grew by only 0.3 percent in 2005.

Slow growth in carbon dioxide emissions from 2004 to 2005 can be attributed mainly to higher energy prices that suppressed energy demand, low or negative growth in several energy-intensive industries, and weather-related disruptions in the energy infrastructure along the Gulf Coast that shut down both petroleum and natural gas operations.

Emissions of methane increased by 0.9 percent, while emissions of nitrous oxide rose by 1.9 percent. Emissions of HFCs, PFCs, and SF6, a group labeled collectively as “high-GWP gases” because their high heat trapping capabilities, rose by 7.2 percent.