In January 2012, for the first time, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data collected under the GHG Reporting Program. The data set shows 2010 U.S. GHG emissions from large industrial facilities, and from suppliers of certain fossil fuels and industrial gases. Reporting entities used uniform methods for estimating emissions, which enables data to be compared and analyzed. The data confirm that among large, direct GHG emitters, the sector with the largest emissions is power plants, followed by petroleum refineries. EPA will update the website regularly to provide the most up-to-date information available.

EPA developed an easy-to-use online data publication tool that allows users to view GHG data in a variety of ways, including by location, facility, industrial sector, or state. In the coming months EPA will add more features to the data publication tool.

The GHG data set for 2010 includes:

• GHG reports from over 6,700 entities.
• Information on GHGs including carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and several types of fluorinated industrial gases.
• GHG data from facilities from specific industries that directly emit 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent or more per year, roughly equivalent to the emissions from burning 131 railcars of coal.
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  Link to list of 2010 reporters

What the Data Tells Us

The GHG Reporting Program collects information from facilities that directly emit GHGs and from suppliers of products that release GHGs if combusted, oxidized, or used. The data publication tool has two distinct sections so the user can view these data sets separately. The default view allows the user to explore data from direct emitters such as power plants, refineries, and other large direct emissions sources.

The data for direct GHG emitters show that in 2010:

• Power plants were the largest stationary source of direct U.S. GHG emissions with 2,324 million metric tons of CO₂e, followed by refineries with 183 million metric tons of CO₂e.
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• CO₂ emissions accounted for largest share of direct emissions with 95 percent, followed by methane with 4 percent, and nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases representing the remaining 1 percent.
• 100 facilities each reported emissions over 7 million metric tons of CO₂e, including 96 power plants, 2 iron and steel mills and 2 refineries.

Notes on the Data

The data released in January 2012 reflect any resubmitted reports from facilities as of December 16, 2011. Information received after that date will be included in EPA's next update. EPA does not release confidential business information. Twelve additional source categories will report their 2011 data for the first time beginning in 2012.

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