USA:

U.S. Power Sector Emissions Poised To Fall To Two-Decade Low In Transformative Year (BNEF)

Annual records for renewable build, coal retirements and gas burn all expected to be broken in 2015

This should prove to be a watershed year for the “de-carbonization” of the US power sector, with record volumes of coal-fired capacity to be shuttered, renewables capacity to be built, and natural gas to be consumed. The result, according to research firm Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF): CO2 emissions from the power sector should drop to their lowest level since 1994.

• This year, the US will install more renewables than ever before, with 18 new gigawatts (GW) coming online.
• This is expected to be a record year for coal retirements in the US with 2 GW forecast to come offline. 

The result of this churn is that CO2 emissions from the power sector should fall to their lowest levels since 1994, BNEF has found. This would put power sector emissions 15.4% below 2005 levels. Overall, the US has pledged to cut all CO2 emissions (inclusive of the power, transport, agricultural, industrial, and residential sectors) by 28% by 2025 from a baseline of 2005.

The white paper is available for download here. The findings will be discussed in-depth at BNEF’s Future of Energy Summit, April 13-15 in NYC. For more information please visit: http://about.bnef.com/summit/

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