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kristopher

(29,798 posts)
Fri May 12, 2017, 09:33 AM May 2017

Steady growth of renewables and efficiency efforts strangling future for coal

This study attributes 44% of coal's decline to efficiency and renewables. Since the price of renewables continue their decline and they are garnering a steadily increasing share of energy investment money, IMO the disruption of the baseload fleet seems set to increase.

A Coal Comeback? Analysis Casts Doubt On Industry’s Chances
By GLYNIS BOARD

Can coal make a comeback? That’s the title of a new report from Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. Researchers there analyzed the factors leading to the coal industry’s sharp decline over the past six years and assessed the Trump administration’s efforts to revive it.

...

Trevor Houser with the economic research company Rhodium Group is a co-author of the Columbia study. His report begins with analysis of what’ was driving the dramatic decline in the coal industry since 2011.

https://cpa.ds.npr.org/wkyu/audio/2017/05/0510CoalComebackWeb_0.mp3
Hear Glynis Board's story about coal's future, from The Ohio Valley ReSource.

“We’ve gone from 130,000 to 75,000 employees, and coal production has dropped by 30 percent,” Houser said.


CREDIT ALEXANDRA KANIK

Cheaper natural gas from the shale gas boom is the biggest factor contributing to coal’s decline. Changes in international markets have reduced demand and lowered coal prices here in the U.S. Renewable energy is also becoming a lot more competitive. The report highlights how wind energy prices have fallen by 40 percent in recent years and solar by 80 percent.

“It’s unlikely that those market factors that have reduced coal production over the last five years are....
http://wkyufm.org/post/coal-comeback-analysis-casts-doubt-industry-s-chances#stream/0
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