Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - AP IMPACT: CO2 emissions in US drop to 20-year low

kirant · 08-23-2012, 11:29 AM

A major question I have is if this will be temporary. Natural gas is the key factor here (methane, if my high school memory on chemistry holds, was the best for energy produced/CO2 molecule of the easy to find fossil fuels)

The biggest question mark for me has always been the US electricity power generation. As of 6 years ago, it was overwhelmingly (~66%) coal, as according to the EPA. We've seen a slow shift since then, but this last winter was the first time that natural gas consumption has beaten coal in terms of electric production (I think. Someone handed me the graphs and they aren't on this machine right now).

This is primarily due to natural gas being dirt cheap and markets going for whatever is cheapest. It's an unnatural low for natural gas. When prices begin to swing back up and coal begins to become an economicly viable alternative, the question will be "will it still hold"?

I think long term (20-30 years), coal plants will shut down in the US due to new regulations around them, but I don't know about the short term response here. I'm not familiar enough with US policy and historical data pre-2006 (when I started tracking this)

08-23-2012, 11:29 AM	#22
kirant Franchise Player Join Date: Apr 2009 Exp:	A major question I have is if this will be temporary. Natural gas is the key factor here (methane, if my high school memory on chemistry holds, was the best for energy produced/CO2 molecule of the easy to find fossil fuels) The biggest question mark for me has always been the US electricity power generation. As of 6 years ago, it was overwhelmingly (~66%) coal, as according to the EPA. We've seen a slow shift since then, but this last winter was the first time that natural gas consumption has beaten coal in terms of electric production (I think. Someone handed me the graphs and they aren't on this machine right now). This is primarily due to natural gas being dirt cheap and markets going for whatever is cheapest. It's an unnatural low for natural gas. When prices begin to swing back up and coal begins to become an economicly viable alternative, the question will be "will it still hold"? I think long term (20-30 years), coal plants will shut down in the US due to new regulations around them, but I don't know about the short term response here. I'm not familiar enough with US policy and historical data pre-2006 (when I started tracking this) __________________ Last edited by kirant; 08-23-2012 at 11:33 AM.