The EIA says this is «because of
the decreased use of coal and the increased use of natural gas for electricity generation.»
«Reduced emissions have been due to increased use of natural gas, and
the decreased use of coal.
Most of that energy is tied directly to electricity generation and thus helps
decrease the use of coal for electricity production.»
Not exact matches
The production
decrease is largely attributable to lower forecasts
of coal use in the electric power sector (down 4 % in 2018).
In fact, much
of the overall
decrease in energy consumption can be traced to the shift from
coal to gas, because modern gas - fired plants may
use up to 46 percent less energy to produce the same amount
of electricity.»
The scrubbers are a commonly
used method for
decreasing carbon emissions from industries such as
coal - fired power plants, which produce more than 14 billion metric tons
of carbon each year.
He added that «the
decrease of coal use is decided by demand, rather than supply.
Research and development to advance
coal, natural gas, oil, and other fossil energy technologies, which will help the country make greater
use of our rich natural energy resources and help keep down energy costs, are funded at $ 635 million — a
decrease of $ 33 million below the fiscal year 2017 enacted level and $ 355 million above the budget request.
«Since 2008,
coal use has
decreased, in part due to the recession but also in part due to replacement
of coal with shale gas to produce electricity,» Howarth said.
The US is expected to see slower decline in its carbon emissions, from an annual 1.2 % drop over the past 10 years to a
decrease of 0.4 % this year, with a return to growth in
coal use, as president Donald Trump promised to rescue the
coal industry.
Broadly stated: if you reject a lease and take a large portion
of a commodity (here
coal, but it could have been natural gas, tar sands, etc.) off the market, you
decrease the supply, increase the cost, and, over the long term,
decrease the
use of that commodity.
Most significant is the 24 %
decrease of coal use in electric generation and the 12 %
decrease in crude oil production.
However, according to James «
coal death train» Hansen, the airborne fraction [AF]
of CO2 man - made emissions has sharply
decreased post-2000, due to «a surge
of fossil fuel
use, mainly
coal»!
Beyond the US, the fracking that has led to much
of the US
decrease has not yet expanded rapidly, but given that the technology exists (and is getting further refined every day) the rest
of the world will also enjoy reduced CO2 emissions by
using nat gas instead
of coal.
While US emissions are
decreasing slightly — both as a result
of the administration's policies on renewable energy and vehicle fuel economy standards and because
of sharply lower natural gas prices that have reduced
coal use for electricity generation — it is unlikely that without additional regulation or legislation that the US will meet its 2020 target.
If heat from burning the
coal is
used to «boil off» the water, there is a corresponding
decrease in the efficiency
of the power station.
But in the US this
decrease occurred not through government intervention but through market - based substitution
of natural gas - fired plants for
coal plants because
of increased
use of fracking and other new techniques in finding additional natural gas.
The four ranks
used in most
coal statistics are, in
decreasing order
of heating value: anthracite, bituminous, subbituminous and lignite.