Nevada Statewide Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory and Projections
Nevada Statewide Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory and Projections, 1990 to 2030
Historical emissions estimates from all sectors are presented in Table 2-1. The trends in Nevada's
smaller sectors are more easily distinguished when presented this way. In 2013, two sectors
contributed 67 percent of total gross emissions in the state (electricity generation and transportation).
Forestry sector emissions are clearly the state's most volatile as uncontrolled wildfires are difficult to
predict, control, and contain. Table 2-1 also highlights the impact of Nevada's increasing population on
emissions across almost all sectors. That is, emissions from all sectors rose with similar increases in
population until a meaningful change took place in that sector that reduced emissions (those changes
are discussed in each sector's respective section).
Table 2-1: Nevada Historical Emissions by Sector, MMTCO₂eq
Sector
Electricity Generation
Transportation
1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2011 2012 2013
16.855 18.267 24.771 26.213 16.858 14.190 14.665 15.144
9.807 11.967 15.091 17.226 14.112 13.502 14.057 14.492
Residential, Commercial,
and Industrial
4.441
5.848
5.987
6.819 6.880 6.037
6.025
6.807
Industrial Processes
1.214
Waste Management
0.749
Agriculture
1.556 2.298
1.003 1.384
1.484 1.550 1.642
2.573
3.230
1.808 2.144 2.209
3.403
3.425
3.550
2.136
1.751
1.636
1.558
1.570
1.563
1.436
Fossil Fuel Industry
Forestry
0.412 0.493 0.593
-5.851 -8.073 -0.635
0.739
0.785
0.849
0.855
0.860
3.349
-6.121
-2.183
-0.329 -4.788
Total Gross Emissions*
60.362
45.567
41.759 42.726
44.039
Total Net Emissions
34.962 40.684 51.765
29.110 32.612 51.130 60.362 39.446 39.575 42.397 39.251
* Gross emissions only account for the forestry sector on years when it is a source of GHG emissions
The state's two dominant sectors for GHG emissions are electricity generation and transportation. In
2013, electricity generation was 34 percent of gross emissions and transportation was 33 percent of the
state's gross emissions. The positions of these two sectors in terms of contributions to the state's total
emissions have not changed since 1990 when they were 48 and 28 percent, respectively. Figure 2-2
illustrates the relative contributions of each of the sectors investigated in this report to Nevada's total
GHG emissions for the year's 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2013. While minor changes to Nevada's minor GHG
contributing sectors is more noticeable above in Table 2-1, putting all of the sectors into comparison to
total emissions in Figure 2-2 puts into perspective the relative importance of each source that makes up
Nevada's total GHG emissions. The biggest change in emissions in the state between 1990 and 2013 has
been the rise and fall of electricity generation sector emissions. With the retirement of the Mohave
Generating Station in 2005 and NV Energy moving away from coal-fired generation towards cheaper and
cleaner burning natural gas, emissions in the sector peaked in 2005 with millions of metric tons more
emissions than that sector currently emits (see Section 3: Electricity Generation).
6View entire presentation