Assertion Supported AI assessment confidence: 95% certainty 4/5 debate potential 1/5

Lott: US electric power emissions rebounded 6.5% after a 10% drop

Dr. Melissa Lott · Why US carbon emissions are rising quickly · Jan 26, 2022 · at 6:24

Dr. Melissa Lott, Director of Research at Columbia's Center on Global Energy Policy, breaks down sectoral data on U.S. power demand and emissions.

0:00 / 0:04exact quote · 4.3s

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“So that's back up overall, you know, went down 10% and it's back up six and a half percent.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

The claim, plainly

U.S. electric power sector emissions dropped 10% during 2020 and rebounded by 6.5% in 2021.

a quote alone can be ambiguous, so this restates it with the references and context of the conversation around it resolved. AI-written; the tape below the player is the source.

Assessment

Data published by the Rhodium Group in January 2021 and January 2022 directly supports the claim. In its preliminary 2020 emissions report (released January 12, 2021), Rhodium Group calculated that U.S. electric power sector emissions decreased by 10.3% year-over-year. In its preliminary 2021 report (released January 10, 2022), Rhodium Group estimated that power sector emissions rebounded by 6.0% to 6.6% (widely cited in contemporaneous media coverage as 6.6%). U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) and EPA analyses similarly reflect a ~10% decline in 2020 power sector CO2 emissions followed by a ~6.5% to 7% rebound in 2021.

Rhodium Group's preliminary 2020 emissions report found a 10.3% decline in U.S. electric power sector emissions in 2020.
Rhodium Group's preliminary 2021 emissions report found a 6.0% to 6.6% rebound in U.S. electric power sector emissions in 2021.
EIA and EPA historical data independently confirm a ~10% drop in power sector CO2 emissions in 2020 and a ~7% increase in 2021.

Checked against

[1] rhg.com [2] rhg.com [3] rhg.com [4] rhg.com [5] rhg.com [6] rhg.com [7] insideclimatenews.org [8] fijitimes.com.fj

Rhodium Group Preliminary US Greenhouse Gas Emissions Estimates for 2021 power sector Rhodium Group preliminary 2021 US greenhouse gas emissions electric power sector rebounded 2020 drop "Preliminary US Greenhouse Gas Emissions Estimates for 2020" "power sector" "10%" OR "10.3%" "Preliminary US Greenhouse Gas Emissions Estimates for 2021" "power sector" "Monthly Energy Review" "electric power" CO2 emissions 2019 2020 2021 EIA "electric power" emissions "2020" "2021" "EIA" percent drop rebound "electric power sector" "2020" "2021" "Rhodium Group" emissions dropped rebounded

assessed as of 2026-09-02

This assessment is an AI reading of a public statement, made against the cited references with the confidence shown. It can be wrong. The quote, the tape and the references are all on this page; if something is off, use report an error below. full disclaimer →

Mentioned

electric power sector power demand

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