Bias present in US federal agency power plant CO2 emissions data and implications for the US clean power plan
Power plants constitute roughly 40% of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the United States. Climate change science, air pollution regulation, and potential carbon trading policies rely on accurate, unbiased quantification of these large point sources. Two US federal agencies—the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency—tabulate the emissions from US power plants using two different methodological approaches. The researchers have analyzed those two data sets and have found that when averaged over all US facilities, the median percentage difference is less than 3%.