[ ‘We are seeing the end of coal,’ says analyst as energy
source with biggest impact on climate crisis falls for sixth year in a
row] [[link removed]]

RENEWABLES SURPASS COAL IN US ENERGY GENERATION FOR FIRST TIME IN 130
YEARS   [[link removed]]

 

Oliver Milman
June 3, 2020
The Guardian
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_ ‘We are seeing the end of coal,’ says analyst as energy source
with biggest impact on climate crisis falls for sixth year in a row _

The Four Corners Power Plant in Waterflow, New Mexico, one of the
country’s largest emitters of carbon dioxide, is one of 13 coal
plants to have announced closure plans., Photograph: Susan Montoya
Bryan/AP

 

Solar, wind and other renewable sources
[[link removed]] have
toppled coal [[link removed]] in
energy generation in the United States for the first time in over 130
years, with the coronavirus pandemic
[[link removed]] accelerating
a decline in coal that has profound implications for the climate
crisis [[link removed]].

Not since wood was the main source of American energy in the 19th
century has a renewable resource been used more heavily than coal, but
2019 saw a historic reversal, according to US government figures
[[link removed]].

Coal consumption fell by 15%, down for the sixth year in a row, while
renewables edged up by 1%. This meant renewables surpassed coal for
the first time since at least 1885, a year when Mark Twain
[[link removed]] published The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and America’s first skyscraper was
erected in Chicago [[link removed]].

Electricity generation from coal fell to its lowest level in 42 years
in 2019, with the US Energy Information Administration
(EIA) forecasting
[[link removed]] that
renewables will eclipse coal as an electricity source this year. On 21
May, the year hit
[[link removed]] its
100th day in which renewables have been used more heavily than coal.

“Coal is on the way out, we are seeing the end of coal,” said
Dennis Wamsted, analyst at the Institute for Energy
[[link removed]] Economics and
Financial Analysis. “We aren’t going to see a big resurgence in
coal generation, the trend is pretty clear.”

The ongoing collapse of coal would have been nearly unthinkable a
decade ago, when the fuel source accounted
[[link removed]] for
nearly half of America’s generated electricity. That proportion may
fall to under 20% this year, with analysts predicting a further
halving within the coming decade.

A rapid slump since then has not been reversed despite the efforts of
the Trump administration
[[link removed]], which
has dismantled
[[link removed]] a
key Barack Obama
[[link removed]]-era climate rule to
reduce emissions
[[link removed]] from coal
plants and eased
[[link removed]] requirements
that prevent coal operations discharging mercury into the atmosphere
and waste into streams.

Coal releases more planet-warming
[[link removed]] carbon
dioxide than any other energy source, with scientists warning its use
must be rapidly phased out
[[link removed]] to
achieve net-zero emissions globally by 2050 and avoid the
worst ravages
[[link removed]] of
the climate crisis.

Countries including the UK
[[link removed]] and
Germany are in the process of winding down their coal sectors,
although in the US the industry still enjoys strong political support
from Trump.

“It’s a big moment for the market to see renewables overtake
coal,” said Ben Nelson, lead coal analyst at Moody’s. “The
magnitude of intervention to aid coal has not been sufficient to
fundamentally change its trajectory, which is sharply downwards.”

Nelson said he expects coal production to plummet by a quarter this
year but stressed that declaring the demise of the industry is “a
very tough statement to make” due to ongoing exports of coal and its
use in steel-making. There are also rural communities with power
purchase agreements with coal plants, meaning these contracts would
have to end before coal use was halted.

The coal sector has been beset by a barrage of problems, predominantly
from cheap, abundant gas
[[link removed]] that has displaced
it as a go-to energy source. The Covid-19
[[link removed]] outbreak
has exacerbated this trend. With plunging electricity demand following
the shutting [[link removed]] of
factories, offices and retailers, utilities have plenty of spare
energy to choose from and coal is routinely the last to be picked
because it is more expensive to run than gas, solar, wind or nuclear
[[link removed]].

Many US coal plants are ageing and costly to operate, forcing hundreds
of closures
[[link removed]] over the past
decade. Just this year, power companies have announced
[[link removed]] plans
to shutter 13 coal plants, including the large Edgewater facility
outside Sheboygan, Wisconsin, the Coal Creek Station plant in North
Dakota and the Four Corners generating station in New Mexico – one
of America’s largest emitters of carbon dioxide.

The last coal facility left in New York state closed earlier this
year.

The additional pressure of the pandemic “will likely shutter the US
coal industry for good”, said Yuan-Sheng Yu, senior analyst at Lux
Research. “It is becoming clear that Covid-19 will lead to a
shake-up of the energy landscape and catalyze the energy transition,
with investors eyeing new energy sector plays as we emerge from the
pandemic.”

Climate campaigners have cheered the decline of coal but in the US the
fuel is largely being replaced by gas, which burns more cleanly than
coal but still emits a sizable amount of carbon dioxide and methane, a
powerful greenhouse gas, in its production.

Renewables accounted
[[link removed]] for
11% of total US energy consumption last year – a share that will
have to radically expand if dangerous climate change is to be avoided.
Petroleum made up 37% of the total, followed by gas at 32%. Renewables
marginally edged out coal, while nuclear stood at 8%.

“Getting past coal is a big first hurdle but the next round will be
the gas industry,” said Wamsted. “There are emissions from gas
plants and they are significant. It’s certainly not over.”

_Oliver Milman is an environment reporter for Guardian US.
Twitter @olliemilman [[link removed]]_

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