U.S. Energy Use, Production Grow

Last year, the U.S. used more energy than in recent years and emitted the highest levels of carbon dioxide since 2010, according to a report by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The report, released last week, notes that the increase in CO₂ emissions came despite greater dependence on wind and nuclear energy, which have a lower level of direct CO₂ emissions than energy derived from fossil fuel. The report in part attributes the increased energy demand and emissions to a cold winter in 2013 and high natural gas prices, which led to a slight increase in U.S. dependence on coal for electricity generation last year. At the same time, a separate report by the Energy Information Administration, also released last week, finds that U.S. oil and natural gas net energy imports for 2013 were the lowest they’ve been in the past 20 years. The 2013 imports marked a 19% drop from 2012, as measured in energy content.