Impact of affluence, nuclear and alternative energy on US carbon emissions from 1960 to 2014

Using the extended STIRPAT model, this research examines the influence of various factors on US carbon emission from 1960 to 2019, including nuclear and alternative energy of total, fossil energy of total, GDP per capita, total population, urban population of total and merchandise trade of GDP. Ridge regression was used to perform the study. The research results show the significant of all factors on carbon emission. The estimated elastic coefficients reveal the most important factor influencing carbon emission is merchandise trade of GDP. GDP per capita has negative impact on carbon emission. Nuclear and alternative energy of total, urban population of total are also prominent influencing factors, while the other factors such as total population and fossil energy of total have less significant impact on carbon emission in US. These findings of this research will be of great significance for US to control its carbon emission in the future and to mitigate the global warming to some extent.