Study: Technology may increase emissions

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Technological changes may propel the United States to emit more greenhouse gases over the next 50 years than in the previous 50 years, researchers said.

The researchers also reported technology itself cannot be relied upon as an efficient tool to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, Massachusetts Institute of Technology said in a news release.

In their study, researchers studied the shifting interplay among technology, energy use and carbon dioxide emissions based on a simulation of the U.S. economy.

"We found that, in spite of increasing energy prices, technological change has not been responsible for much reduction in energy use, and that it may have had the reverse effect," said Richard Eckaus, economics professor emeritus at MIT.

The researchers studied the periods 1958-1996 and 1980-1996 and projected from 2000-2050. After adjusting for realistic expectations for technological changes, they found that the rates of growth for energy use and emissions may accelerate from the historical rates of 2.2 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively.

"The rates of growth could be higher by a half percent or more," Eckaus says.

"The Implications of the Historical Decline in U.S. Energy Intensity for Long-Run CO2 Emission Projections," was published in the November issue of Energy Policy.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International.