Coal-fired power plants comprise seven of the top 10 emitters of greenhouse gases in Iowa, according to a new online database of large stationary sources compiled by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
On a national level, coal-fired electric generating plants make up 96 of the top 100 emitters of so-called greenhouses gases which trap some of the Earth’s outgoing energy, thus retaining heat in the atmosphere.
Power plants are the largest source by far of greenhouse gas stationary source emissions, totaling some 2,324 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) annually, according to the EPA. Petroleum refineries are a distant second emitting 183 million metric tons of CO2 each year.
Carbon dioxide comprises an estimated 95 percent of greenhouse gas emissions nationally, with methane making up about 4 percent of such emissions and nitrous oxide and other fluorinated gases the remaining 1 percent.
In Iowa, the top 10 stationary source greenhouse gas emitters are:
- 11.65 millions tons - Walter Scott Jr. Energy Center, Council Bluffs (MidAmerican Energy)
- 6.7 million tons - George Neal North Energy Center, Sergeant Bluff (MidAmerican Energy)
- 4.9 million tons - Louisa Generating Station, south of Muscatine (MidAmerican Energy)
- 4.8 million tons - George Neal South Energy Center, Salix (MidAmerican Energy)
- 4.5 million tons - Ottumwa Generating Station, Ottumwa (MidAmerican Energy)
- 3.1 million tons - ADM (Archer Daniels Midland) Corn Processing, Cedar Rapids
- 1.78 million tons - Muscatine Power & Water, Muscatine
- 1.5 million tons - ADM Corn Processing, Clinton
- 1.48 million tons - Port Neal Corporation (Terra Industries), Sergeant Bluff
- 1.36 million tons - Prairie Creek Generating Station (Alliant Energy), Cedar Rapids.
The database of greenhouse gas emissions, unveiled January 11, can be accessed at EPA's web site: http://epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/ghgdata/
