Natural Gas, Not Wind or Solar, Is the Main Cause of Reduced CO2 Emissions

Renewable energy advocates often crow about how CO2 emissions have declined in the United States, but most of this decline is better attributed to natural gas, rather than renewables says the U.S. Energy Information Administration. According to EIA:

“Between 2005 and 2017, CO2 emissions declined by a cumulative 3,855 MMmt as a result of these two factors (see methodology on page 21). Of this total, 2,360 MMmt can be attributed to the shift in fossil fuels to natural gas, and 1,494 MMmt can be attributed to the increase in non-carbon generation sources.”

This means 61 percent of the declines in CO2 emissions have been achieved by switching from burning coal (which emits about twice as much CO2 as burning natural gas) for far less cost than wind and solar.

It is fracking, which has transformed the U.S. into the largest producer of oil and natural gas in the world that has reduced more CO2 emissions than all the subsidies and mandates which artificially prop up expensive and unreliable sources of energy like wind and solar.