Thankfully Wyoming’s Electricity Is Very Carbon-Intensive

Recently, a story was published on the Wyoming Public Media website, written by KUNR Public Radio out of Nevada, about how "carbon-intensive" electricity production was in each state.

There was even a quote from Robert Godby, an energy economist at the University of Wyoming.

As you might imagine, since Wyoming drills and digs for a lot of coal and natural gas, our state produces a lot of CO2 because most of our energy production is from those two natural and organic fuels.

The problem is that the article goes on to treat CO2 as a "pollutant." But it is not. CO2 is good and nessasary for life on this planet. NASA studies show this, as does a study from the University of Wyoming.

It was under the Obama Administration that the EPA overstepped its bounds and declared CO2 a pollutant so that it could regulate it. The rule was repealed under the Trump administration in 2026.

Flowers in an Open Field at Good Earth State Park in Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Without CO2, this would be a dead planet. 

CO2 is a major part of the cycle of life on Earth.

You should have learned in school that carbon dioxide is used by plants, in part, to create energy through a process called photosynthesis. Plants take in CO2, remove the carbon molecule and use it for growth, then release the O2. Oxygen-breathing life will then inhale the O2 and exhale it with a carbon molecule attached (CO2). This is the cycle of life.

Numerous studies have been done in greenhouses where extra CO2 was pumped in to see the effect. The results are amazing. The plants that get more CO2 are bigger, lusher, greener. You can watch a video on that here.

A recent study conducted at the University of Wyoming finds that increased amounts of CO2 would help the grasslands of Wyoming.

A lone green tree stands on a grassy hill

David Williams, a botany professor at the University of Wyoming, and his team conducted a controlled study.

They surrounded grass with heaters and pumped carbon dioxide in to simulate a warmer planet with more CO2 in the air.

"The responses to these changing conditions are very species-specific," said Professor Williams, "Some species respond very favorably, others don't respond as much or at all to this increase in carbon dioxide." (WYOMING PUBLIC MEDIA).

So, the observed results were: some responded "favorably," some not as much, some not at all. These are the same results found in other lab tests using greenhouses and extra CO2.

So, extra CO2 is a good thing. It did not kill the plants; it helped most of them to become healthier.

Did you know that you can buy a CO2 emitter for a home greenhouse? You can see those products here. Folks who grow indoors, professionally, and for backyard greenhouses know the importance of CO2 and how more of it helps make a greener planet.

There have been many times in the past when the Earth was much warmer than it is today. But it was not warmer because of the CO2 levels. Still, when Earth was warmer, CO2 life on this planet was more abundant than it is today. You can see an example of that by looking at the times around the Roman Empire, at this link.