Fracking Has Helped Reduce Emissions And Improve Energy Efficiency

See Energy charts of the day from Mark Perry.

"The three charts above [I put them below-CM] are based on new data from the Energy Information Administration on energy-related CO2 emissions through 2015, see the EIA report here and Ronald Bailey’s related report here at Reason.com. Here are some highlights:

 

1. From the EIA report:

After increasing in 2013 and in 2014, energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions fell in 2015. In 2015, U.S. energy-related carbon dioxide emissions were 12% below the 2005 levels, mostly because of changes in the electric power sector (see light blue line in the top chart above).
Energy-related CO2 emissions can be reduced by consuming less petroleum, coal, and natural gas, or by switching from more carbon-intensive fuels to less carbon-intensive fuels. Many of the changes in energy-related CO2 emissions in recent history have occurred in the electric power sector because of the decreased use of coal and the increased use of natural gas for electricity generation.

Note: Total CO2 emissions in 2015, at 5.27 billion metric tons, were at the lowest level since 2012 (5.23 billion metric tons), which was the lowest level since 1993.

2. The EIA also report that “Overall, the fuel-use changes in the power sector have accounted for 68% of the total energy-related CO2 reductions from 2005 to 2015.” Ronald Bailey points out that “The bottom line is that this reduction in carbon dioxide emissions results largely from cheap natural gas from shale produced by horizontal drilling combined with fracking.”

The second chart above shows how the CO2 emissions from the electric power sector fell last year to the lowest level in 20 years (since 1995), and started falling precipitously around 2005 as the shale revolution and hydraulic fracturing were responsible for an increase in natural gas production in the US of almost 50% in the last decade.
3. Also from the EIA:

Adjusted for inflation, the economy in 2015 was 15% larger than it was in 2005 (see dark blue line in top chart above for real GDP), but the U.S. energy intensities and carbon intensities have both declined. On a per-dollar of gross domestic product (GDP) basis, in 2015, the United States used 15% less energy per unit of GDP and produced 23% fewer energy-related CO2 emissions per unit of GDP, compared with the energy and emissions per dollar of GDP in 2005 (see bottom chart above).

In fact, the bottom chart above shows that energy-related CO2 emissions per unit of real GDP have been falling for at least the last 35 years, and have fallen by about 50% since 1980.

Bottom Line: These “green” energy-related trends: falling CO2 emissions, especially in the electric power sector, and declining energy intensities and carbon intensities in the US economy, are developments that have been made possible only because of the shale revolution and the revolutionary technologies that have opened up oceans of shale gas in America to extraction and production."