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U.S. ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION Greenhouse Gas Emission Reductions Reported to EIA Increase in 2004
A total of 226 U.S. companies and other entities reported to the Energy Information Administration's (EIA) Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gases Program that they had undertaken 2,154 projects to reduce or sequester greenhouse gases in 2004, according to Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gases 2004, released today by EIA. Reported direct emissions reductions were 2.8 percent higher in 2004 than in 2003; reported indirect emissions reductions increased by 12.6 percent. Project-level emission reductions included 277 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2e) in direct emission reductions, 92 MMTCO2e in indirect emission reductions, and 7 MMTCO2e of reductions from carbon sequestration. Direct reductions are emission reductions from sources owned or leased by the reporting entity, while indirect reductions are emission reductions from sources not owned or leased by the reporting entity but that occur as a result of the entity's activities. In addition, 14 MMTCO2e of reductions were reported under the EIA 1605EZ form, which does not ask whether reported reductions are direct reductions or indirect reductions. The figure below illustrates the growth in reported reductions since the Program's inception in 1994. The Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gases Program, required by Section 1605(b) of the Energy Policy Act of 1992, is intended to encourage and recognize innovative, low-cost, and nonregulatory approaches to limit emissions of greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases, which include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), absorb infrared energy and prevent it from leaving the atmosphere. Total Reports were received from participants in 24 different industries or services. The electric power sector, with 94 companies reporting, continues to provide the largest number of participants to the program (42 percent). The number of participants from outside the electric power sector (132 reporters) was nine times the number that reported for 1994, the first year of the Program. These companies now comprise more than half (58 percent) of the reporters to the program and include firms engaged in automobile manufacturing, petroleum production and refining, coal mining, food processing, textile manufacturing, primary metals production, electronic and electrical equipment manufacturing, and the chemical industry. Alternative energy providers, agriculture and forestry organizations, and organizations in other sectors (government, commercial, and residential) also reported.
An electronic version of the full report Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gases 2004, can be downloaded from EIA's website at: http://www.eia.gov/oiaf/1605/vrrpt/pdf/0608(04).pdf. A Summary version of the report will be available by Internet download in the near future. Printed copies of the Summary report are expected to be available in late March from EIA's
-EIA- EIA Program Contact: Paul McArdle, 202/586-4445; Stephen Calopedis, 202/586-1156 EIA Press Contact: EIA-2006-02
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