Intro

Taking aim at preventing the greenhouse effect, the main contributor to global warming, the Obama Administration created legislation, which it titled the Clean Power Plan. On August 3, 2015, the Obama Administration unveiled The Clean Power Plan, which "established the first national limits on carbon pollution from existing power plants—our nation's single largest source of the pollution fueling climate change" and was "the biggest step" the United States had "ever taken to address climate change." This is heralded as Obama’s greatest policy effort to combat climate change.

CO2 Emissions

The primary goal of the CPP is to reduce CO2 emissions by 32% by the year 2030 in comparison to CO2 emissions from 2005. The interactive chart below utilizes data provided by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Annual statistics on CO2 emissions for the country and state granularity are provided since 1990 with a 1 year lag in release date; 2015 is the most recent data point.

CO2 Emissions Differ by Fuel Type

How does the CPP propose states achieve the reduction of CO2? States are required to submit a plan to the EPA detailing how it will reduce CO2 emissions from fossil fuel burning facilities.

The figures below shows each individual power plant in the US plotted with its power output vs CO2 emissions in tons, illustrating a distinct profile between coal, gas, and non fossil fuel generating units.

Coal Natural Gas Petroleum Hydro Wind Solar Nuclear Geothermal Biomass Other Fossil Fuel Other Fuel Types

World Wide CO2 emissions and energy consumptions

USA has been a leading producer of CO2 for the past 25 years, overtaken by China only recently. However, the US has reduced the Coal consumption significantly in the past 10-15 years. The electricy consumption increased in the 90s but has stayed stagnant in the past 10 years. The US remains the leading consumer of Natural Gas in the world.

Unit of Measure:


*All data taken from enerdata.net

Past, Present, & Future Power Plants

The CPP was met with much controversy, however, as opponents cited that it would hurt the economy by eliminating job in the coal industry and drastically reducing job in other industries such as cement and steel production. For these reasons, the Trump Administration repealed the CPP on October 10, 2017. In the chart below, a history of electric generating units constructed in the United States is presented as well as past and planned retirements through 2055, which are indicated in the bottom plot.
Data Source: United States EPA

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