Weather variations contributed to a 129-megatonne increase in the United States’ energy-related carbon dioxide emissions in 2013, reversing a 10-year trend that showed a steady decline in the country’s energy intensity, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported this week.
“Energy intensity changes can reflect weather variations that directly affect energy use for heating and cooling, as well as changes in the composition of economic activity,” the EIA notes. “Heating degree days, a measure of heating requirements, increased about 19% between 2012 and 2013.”
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A day later, the EIA said the U.S. energy sector’s actual CO2 emissions have declined for five of the last eight years due to emissions reductions in the electric power sector and lower growth in electricity demand.
