一個由非營利中立的「環境正義計畫（Environmental Integrity Project）」所做的最新分析結果顯示，2007年是過去9年間美國發電廠整年溫室氣體排放量最多的一年。他們根據美國環保署所分析的數據，發現2007年相關二氧化碳排放量比2006年上升了2.9%。
這項分析顯示，發電工業的二氧化碳排放量是美國促使氣候變遷的最大因子，這個排放量從2002年開始已經成長5.9%，更比1997年排放量要高出11.7%。
德州是每年二氧化碳排放量最高的10個州中的第一名，喬治亞州、亞利桑納州、加州、賓夕凡尼亞州、密西根州、愛荷華州、伊利諾州、維吉尼亞州及北卡羅來納州緊跟在後。排放量最高的3個州（德州、喬治亞州及亞利桑納州）都有最高的單年、5年、10年排放成長量。
「環境正義計畫」主任薛佛（Eric Schaeffer）表示：「最近對全球暖化政策的爭議，傾向聚焦在長期的目標上，像是如何在未來50年之內減少80％的溫室氣體排放量。但是就在我們爭論不休之時，從發電廠排放的二氧化碳量依然繼續成長，使得已經險峻的狀況更加惡化。」
他警告說：「因為二氧化碳具有50-200年的大氣存留壽命，今天所排放的氣體對全球暖化造成的影響最長可達2個世紀之久。」
從2006年的資料看來，美國有10個州因發電廠效率低落，而導致溫室氣體排放，包含北達科他州、懷俄明州、肯達基州、印第安納州、猶它州、西維吉尼亞州、新墨西哥州、科羅拉多州、密蘇里州、及愛荷華州。
這份報告解釋了為什麼環保團體們要為了阻止興建新的傳統燃煤電廠，不斷進行抗爭。環保團體們表示這類電廠會使已經惡化的情形更加糟糕。
這個報告指出：「舉例來說，8座德州公用事業公司（TXU）規劃的燃煤電廠在德州面對反對的決議後已決定撤回，否則這8座燃煤電廠將在大氣中增加6400萬噸二氧化碳，在該州增加24％的發電場溫室氣體排放量。」
這項分析發現，有些增加的二氧化碳排放量來自現有的燃煤發電廠，因為這些發電廠有些以逐漸增加更高發電容量的方式營運，有些則是因為電廠老化而需要更多熱能來發電。分析指出：「舉例來說，全美10座排放量最高的電廠，其排放量不是保持原狀就是在2006年到2007年間有所增加。」
喬州電力公司（Georgia Power）靠近喬治亞州梅崗市（Macon）的薛瑞爾電廠（Scherer power plant）是全美二氧化碳排放量最高的電廠。它在2007年排出2720萬噸的二氧化碳，大約比前一年多排放200萬噸。
在瀏覽這些實際數據之後，「環境正義計畫」建議全美最老及最髒的電廠都應該退休，而以更乾淨的能源來取代，那將會需要加速發展風力發電及其他可再生的能源。
The biggest single year increase in greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. power plants in nine years occurred in 2007, finds a new analysis by the nonprofit, nonpartisan Environmental Integrity Project. The finding of a 2.9 percent rise in carbon dioxide emissions over 2006 is based on an analysis of data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Now the largest factor in the U.S. contribution to climate change, the electric power industry's emissions of carbon dioxide, CO2, have risen 5.9 percent since 2002 and 11.7 percent since 1997, the analysis shows.
Texas tops the list of the 10 states with the biggest one-year increases in CO2 emissions, with Georgia, Arizona, California, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Iowa, Illinois, Virginia and North Carolina close behind.
The top three states - Texas, Georgia and Arizona - had the greatest increases in CO2 emissions on a one, five and 10 year basis.
Director of the Environmental Integrity Project Eric Schaeffer said, "The current debate over global warming policy tends to focus on long-term goals, like how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent over the next 50 years. But while we debate, CO2 emissions from power plants keep rising, making an already dire situation worse."
"Because CO2 has an atmospheric lifetime of between 50 and 200 years, today's emissions could cause global warming for up to two centuries to come," he warned.
Data from 2006 show that the 10 states with the least efficient power production relative to resulting greenhouse gas emissions were North Dakota, Wyoming, Kentucky, Indiana, Utah, West Virginia, New Mexico, Colorado, Missouri, and Iowa.
The report explains why national environmental groups are fighting to stop the construction of new conventional coal-fired power plants, which they say would make a bad situation worse.
"For example" the report points out, "the eight planned coal-fired plants that TXU withdrew in the face of determined opposition in Texas would have added an estimated 64 million tons of CO2 to the atmosphere, increasing emissions from power plants in that state by 24 percent."
Some of the rise in CO2 emissions comes from existing coal fired power plants, the analysis found, either because these plants are operating at increasingly higher capacities, or because these aging plants require more heat to generate electricity. "For example, all of the top 10 highest emitting plants in the nation, either held steady or increased CO2 output from 2006 to 2007."
Georgia Power's Scherer power plant near Macon, Georgia is the highest emitting plant in the nation. It pumped out 27.2 million tons of CO2 in 2007, up roughly two million tons from the year before.
In view of these facts, the Environmental Integrity Project recommends that the nation's oldest and dirtiest power plants should be retired, and replaced with cleaner sources of energy. That will require accelerating the development of wind power and other renewable sources of energy.
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