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Growth in Emissions
The consequential rise in atmospheric
carbon dioxide (Figure
6) attributable to growth in use of fossil fuels (i.e., CO2
production rate) will continue indefinitely unless the production rate
is diminished by about 2% per year. Growth in the emissions since the
1860s shows that since 1950 we have gone from producing about 1 gigaton/yr
of carbon to over 6 gigatons/yr. Finally, to demonstrate the measures
needed to stabilize the atmospheric CO2 concentrations at
current levels, Figure
7 shows that a reduction in excess of 75% of current emissions is
needed - a very unlikely scenario.
The annual review of renewable energy put out by the Energy Information Administration of the US Department of Energy provides a good overview of the forms and contributions of renewable energy to the US energy consumption picture.
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