Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the United States 2003

Preface 

Title XVI, Section 1605(a) of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (enacted October 24, 1992) provides:

Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary, through the Energy Information Administration, shall develop, based on data available to, and obtained by, the Energy Information Administration, an inventory of the national aggregate emissions of each greenhouse gas for each calendar year of the baseline period of 1987 through 1990. The Administrator of the Energy Information Administration shall annually update and analyze such inventory using available data. This subsection does not provide any new data collection authority.

The first report in this series, Emissions of Greenhouse Gases 1985-1990, was published in September 1993. This report—the twelfth annual report, as required by law—presents the Energy Information Administration’s latest estimates of emissions for carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and other greenhouse gases. These estimates are based on activity data and applied emissions factors and not on measured or metered emissions monitoring.

For this report, data on coal and natural gas consumption and electricity sales and losses by sector were obtained from the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA’s) November 2004 Monthly Energy Review. Additional detailed information on petroleum consumption was obtained from unpublished material in support of EIA’s Annual Energy Review 2003. Data on electric power sector emissions were obtained from EIA’s Electric Power Annual. In keeping with current international practice, this report presents data on greenhouse gas emissions in million metric tons carbon dioxide equivalent. The data can be converted to carbon equivalent units by multiplying times 12/44.

Released: December 2004