Coal has finally been dislodged from its spot as a favorite energy source for utilities in America thanks to the falling cost of renewables and gas. For the first time ever, America generated more electricity from renewable sources than coal. This marks the beginning of a new cleaner era to come!
New federal government data from the Energy Information Administration has shown that renewables, such as wind and solar, in April 2019 provided 23% of the country’s electricity generation while coal provided only 20%. Hydroelectric dams, solar panels, and wind turbines generated 68.5 million megawatt-hours of energy, compared to 60 million for coal.
It is true that April is a favorable month for renewables, however. The energy demands are lower, and wind generation is higher. Therefore, coal will most likely pull ahead of renewables again during 2019, although the long-term trends appear to be set.
Michael Webber, an energy expert at the University of Texas, said, “The fate of coal has been sealed; the market has spoken. The trend is irreversible now, the decline of coal is unstoppable despite Donald Trump’s rhetoric.”
To the delight of voters in mining regions in states such as West Virginia, Trump has repeatedly promised to revive the fortunes of the coal industry by repealing various clean air and climate regulations. Nevertheless, at least 50 coal-fired power plants have shut since Trump entered the White House in 2017 because of the ever-falling cost of renewables and gas.
Webber said, “Trump has made a promise that will be broken, which is a tragedy for coalminers who were told they don’t need to get other jobs or get new skills. They have been sent the wrong signal and now there are lay-offs.”
Regardless of national climate policy, states such as New York and California have pledged to completely phase out the use of fossil fuels. There are at least 150 new gas plants popping up in several states and thousands of miles of pipelines planned for the coming years. Gas is less harmful to the environment because it emits less carbon dioxide than coal, which is what warms the planet. In addition, it is not associated with the same health problems caused by air pollution as coal.
Some environmentalists have raised concerns over the fact that gas is still a fossil fuel. They believe that a broad expansion will jeopardize the ability to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century. Why invest in so much infrastructure for gas plants that still emit carbon dioxide when scientists say it’s essential we do everything we can to avoid the worst ravages of the climate crisis?
Well, at least there are new wind and solar farms also springing up nationwide! We can only hope that as they continue to become cheaper to build, they will become the only plausible choice.
