Report to show gas, solar production rising in US: White House

A White House climate report due to be released on Tuesday will be the most comprehensive source of scientific information ever produced about how climate change would impact all regions of the United States.

It is the third national climate assessment, John Podesta, senior adviser to the President, said Monday at the White House.

President Barack Obama will speak to meteorologists about what the report’s findings will mean for communities across the country, especially coastal areas, and the impact on key economic sectors.

Podesta previewed the report Monday, saying it will show the United States is now the largest producer of natural gas in the world and the largest producer of gas and oil in the world.

“For six straight months now, we’ve produced more oil here at home than we’ve imported from overseas,” he said.

The US is cutting its energy use and improving energy efficiency, which is driving down the amount of energy necessary to produce goods and services.

Consumption of petrol is well below previously expected trends, which was expected as tighter energy efficiency standards come into place.

Podesta said the report will show that renewable energy is on the rise and cleaner-burning natural gas is the only fossil fuel with a growing share of the US energy mix.

The US has increased electricity generation from solar by more than 10 times and tripled electricity production from wind power since 2009.

Last year solar energy was the second-largest source of new electricity added to the grid after natural gas.

Podesta conceded the US still needs to address power plant emissions.

Plants that create electricity by burning fossil fuels are still the largest single source of carbon-dioxide emissions in the US, he said, accounting for 38 per cent of CO2 emissions in 2012.

“The transition to natural gas, increases in efficiency and deployment of more renewables has meant that our CO2 emissions from energy production are trending in the right way, and that is down, but we have more work to do,” he said.