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Introduction

The President issued a directive on April 15, 1999, requiring an annual report summarizing the carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions produced by the generation of electricity by utilities and nonutilities in the United States. In response, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) jointly submitted the first report on October 15, 1999. This is the second annual report⁽¹⁾ that estimates the CO₂ emissions attributable to the generation of electricity in the United States. The data on CO₂ emissions and the generation of electricity were collected and prepared by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), and the report was jointly written by DOE and EPA to address the five areas outlined in the Presidential Directive.

• The emissions of CO₂ are presented on the basis of total mass (tons) and output rate (pounds per kilowatthour). The information is stratified by the type of fuel used for electricity generation and presented for both regional and national levels. The percentage of electricity generation produced by each fuel type or energy resource is indicated.
  

• The 1999 data on CO₂ emissions and generation by fuel type are compared to the same data for the previous year, 1998. Factors contributing to regional and national level changes in the amount and average output rate of CO₂ are identified and discussed.
  

• The Energy Information Administration's most recent projections of CO₂ emissions and generation by fuel type for 1999 are compared to the actual data summarized in this report to identify deviations between projected and actual CO₂ emissions and electricity generation.
  

• Information for 1998 on voluntary carbon-reducing and carbon-sequestration projects reported by the electric power sector and the resulting amount of CO₂ reductions are presented. Included are programs undertaken by the utilities themselves as well as programs supported by the Federal government to support voluntary CO₂ reductions.
  

• Appropriate updates to the Department of Energy's estimated environmental effects of the Administration's proposed restructuring legislation are included.

Electric Power Industry CO₂ Emissions and
Generation Share by Fuel Type

In 1999,⁽²⁾ estimated emissions of CO₂ in the United States resulting from the generation of electric power were 2,245 million metric tons,⁽³⁾ an increase of 1.4 percent from the 2,215 million metric tons in 1998. The estimated generation of electricity from all sources increased by 2.0 percent, going from 3,617 billion kilowatthours to 3,691 billion kilowatthours. Electricity generation from coal-fired plants, the primary source of CO₂ emissions from electricity generation, was nearly the same in 1999 as in 1998. Much of the increase in electricity generation was produced by gas-fired plants and nuclear plants. The 1999 national average output rate,⁽⁴⁾ 1.341 pounds of CO₂ per kilowatthour generated, also showed a slight change from 1.350 pounds CO₂ per kilowatthour in 1998 (Table 1). While the share of total generation provided by fossil fuels rose slightly, a reduction in the emission rate for coal-fired generation combined with growth in the market share of gas-fired generation contributed to the modest improvement in the output rate.⁽⁵⁾

Coal

Estimated emissions of CO₂ produced by coal-fired generation of electricity were 1,788 million metric tons in 1999 (Table 1), 0.7 percent less than in 1998, while electricity generation from coal was 0.4 percent more than the previous year. The divergent direction of generation and emissions changes may reflect a combination of thermal efficiency improvements, changes in average fuel characteristics, and variances associated with both sampling and nonsampling errors. CO₂ emissions from coal-fired electricity generation comprise nearly 80 percent of the total CO₂ emissions produced by the generation of electricity in the United States, while the share of electricity generation from coal was 51.0 percent in 1999 (Table 3). Coal has the highest carbon intensity among fossil fuels, resulting in coal-fired plants having the highest output rate of CO₂ per kilowatthour. The national average output rate for coal-fired electricity generation was 2.095 pounds CO₂ per kilowatthour in 1999 (Table 4).

Coal-fired generation contributes over 90 percent of CO₂ emissions in the East North Central, West North Central, East South Central, and Mountain Census Divisions and 84 percent in the South Atlantic Census Division (Table 2). Nearly two-thirds of the Nation's CO₂ emissions from electricity generation are accounted for by the combustion of coal for electricity generation in these five regions where most of the Nation's coal-producing States are located. Consequently, these regions have relatively high output rates of CO₂ per kilowatthour.

Table 3. Percent of Electricity Generated at U.S. Electric Plants by Fuel Type and Census Division, 1998 and 1999 (Percent)
Census Division	1998					1999
	Coal	Petroleum	Gas	Othera	Nonfossil	Coal	Petroleum	Gas	Othera	Nonfossil
New England	17.9	24.4	13.8	4.6	39.3	16.3	22.9	18.0	4.6	38.3
Middle Atlantic	38.4	5.2	13.6	1.3	41.5	35.8	4.5	17.5	1.3	40.9
East North Central	76.3	0.8	3.8	0.4	18.8	72.0	0.7	4.4	0.4	22.5
West North Central	75.5	0.7	2.3	0.3	21.1	73.9	0.7	3.0	0.3	22.0
South Atlantic	55.3	7.2	6.6	0.7	30.2	55.5	6.7	7.8	0.7	29.2
East South Central	66.2	2.1	3.2	*	28.4	68.0	1.4	3.9	*	26.7
West South Central	39.1	0.6	42.2	0.3	17.8	40.1	0.7	44.6	0.3	14.3
Mountain	67.9	0.2	6.8	0.1	25.0	67.5	0.3	8.1	0.1	24.1
Pacific Contiguous	4.3	0.7	23.1	0.4	71.4	4.2	0.5	26.2	0.4	68.7
Pacific Noncontiguous	12.2	52.3	21.3	1.9	12.4	11.7	52.2	24.8	1.9	9.4
U.S. Total	51.8	3.5	13.5	0.6	30.6	51.0	3.2	15.2	0.6	30.0
aOther fuels include municipal solid waste, tires, and other fuels that emit anthropogenic CO2 when burned to generate electricity. Nonutility data for 1999 for these fuels are unavailable; 1998 data are used.    * = the absolute value is less than 0.05.    Note: Data for 1999 are preliminary. Data for 1998 are final.    Sources: •Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-759, "Monthly Power Plant Report"; Form EIA-767, "Steam-Electric Plant Operation and Design Report"; Form EIA-860B, "Annual Electric Generator Report - Nonutility"; Form EIA-900, "Monthly Nonutility Power Report." •Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, FERC Form 423, "Monthly Report of Cost and Quality of Fuels for Electric Plants."

Table 4. Estimated Carbon Dioxide Emissions Rate From Generating Units at U.S. Electric Plants by Census Division, 1998 and 1999 (Pounds per Kilowatthour)
Census Division	1998					1999
	Total	Coal	Petroleum	Gas	Othera	Total	Coal	Petroleum	Gas	Othera
New England	1.059	1.934	1.984	1.213	1.339	1.077	1.827	2.156	1.250	1.328
Middle Atlantic	1.071	2.062	1.884	1.188	1.502	1.058	2.089	1.872	1.178	1.502
East North Central	1.680	2.113	2.244	1.239	1.124	1.579	2.061	2.759	1.630	1.131
West North Central	1.767	2.262	1.759	1.659	2.422	1.746	2.250	2.207	1.958	2.596
South Atlantic	1.334	2.026	1.821	1.113	1.377	1.342	2.019	1.822	1.115	1.372
East South Central	1.457	2.060	1.515	1.857	3.244	1.470	2.031	1.530	1.734	3.244
West South Central	1.469	2.214	3.955	1.376	0.151	1.529	2.215	3.170	1.382	0.151
Mountain	1.572	2.179	2.802	1.257	0.005	1.542	2.128	3.036	1.214	0.005
Pacific Contiguous	0.417	2.158	2.396	1.287	2.140	0.435	2.152	2.419	1.238	2.108
Pacific Noncontiguous	1.453	2.229	1.641