WaPo: These striking numbers show just how fast we’re switching off coal [View all]

[pampango]

Last week, even as Peabody Energy, the world’s biggest coal company, declared bankruptcy, the U.S. government issued striking figures showing how much coal production in the United States has declined in the space of just a few years.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration, in its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook, stated that the U.S. production of coal last month totaled 52 million short tons — which was a 36 percent decrease from levels seen just one year earlier, in March of 2015.

The U.S. produced 999.7 million short tons of coal in 2014, according to EIA, the large majority of which was consumed to generate electricity right here at home. However, in 2015 that dipped to 895.4 million short tons, a drop of more than 100 million tons in just one year. The drop, incidentally, was considerably more than EIA itself had forecast around this time a year ago, when the agency had expected a decline to 926 million tons.

So there was a big decline in U.S. coal production when comparing 2014 with 2015 — but looking at 2016, the drop is expected to be even bigger. “Forecast coal production is expected to decrease by 143 [million short tons] (16%) in 2016, which would be the largest annual percentage decline since 1958,” says EIA. Total production is forecast to just be 752.5 million short tons, or an over 200 million ton decline from the level just 2 years ago.

https://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=&w=1484

The major contributor of lower coal production in the most recent STEO compared with a year ago is the increase in natural gas used in the electric power sector, mainly because of lower natural gas prices. ... The decline of coal burning has contributed to a reduction of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions — but there are arguments that the rise of gas has actually not been all to the good.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/04/19/these-striking-numbers-show-just-how-fast-were-switching-off-coal/