U.S. power plants released more greenhouse gases in 2013 than 2012 despite recent efforts by the Obama administration to drastically cut such pollution by 2030, a new report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows, and the brutal winter of 2013 shoulders a large part of the blame.

The EIA reports that from 2012 to 2013 carbon dioxide emissions from energy-related sources rose by 2.5 percent, the fourth largest increase in such emissions since 1990. This marks the first time energy-related carbon dioxide emissions rose year-to-year since 2010, which was the single largest jump in emissions (3.7 percent) since 1990.

So then, why the increase? One massive factor was winter 2013, which as the EIA notes, resulted in a more than 18 percent increase in what are known as heating degree days, or days where more energy is required to heat your home.

That jump in heating degree days is pretty representative of the brutal cold a large portion of the U.S., in particular the Midwest, braved from December to February. Winter 2013/2014 was the one of thetop 10 coldest winters on record for residents of seven Midwestern states.

When it's freezing out (quite literally) people crank up the heat to stay warm. And that takes electricity, a lot of it. Power plant emissions tied to residential energy consumption rose dramatically in 2013, contributing to 48 percent of the total increase in emissions from 2012 to 2013.

Now a bit of simple economics kicks in. Both coal-fired power plants and natural gas power plants, two competing sources of greenhouse emissions, experienced price changes in 2013. The price to deliver natural gas to electric generators at power plants increased at the same time the price of coal decreased. When price goes up, demand goes down. Similarly, when price goes down, demand goes up. So, naturally, energy production shifted to the cheaper energy source, in this case coal-fired power plants.

As a result, coal-fired power plants generated 4 percent more electricity from 2012 to 2013, while natural gas's electricity generation contribution dropped by some 10 percent. Even so, because of increases in solar, wind and nuclear energy, the carbon footprint of electricity generators rose less than 1 percent.

Still, the overall increase in carbon emissions is pretty terrible news for the Obama administration, which just this June, unveiled a plan to cut greenhouse emissions from the U.S.'s power plants by 30 percent by 2030. The first step in the plan called for a 17 percent cut in carbon emissions by 2020, but the EIA's findings are an obvious setback to accomplishing that.

For a look at all of the factors that contributed to the increase in carbon emissions, access the Energy Information Administration's full report by clicking here.

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Muir Glacier and Inlet (1895)

In the photo above, the west shoreline of Muir Inlet in Alaska's Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve is shown as it appeared in 1895. Notice the lack of vegetation on the slopes of the mountains, and the glacier that stands more than 300 feet high. See the glacier as it looked in 2005 on the next page. (USGS/Bruce Molnia)