Coal is making a comeback in 2013

Washington Post ^ | May 28, 2013 | By Brad Plumer

[eagleye85]

Remember all the stories about how a glut of cheap shale gas was killing off coal in the United States and slashing the country’s carbon-dioxide emissions? It’s time to revise those headlines slightly. According to the latest data from the Energy Information Administration, coal has been reclaiming some — though not all — of its market share in 2013:

This shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. As I’ve noted before, natural gas prices have been creeping up over the past year, thanks to a combination of a colder winter, higher demand for heating fuel, scaled-back drilling, and also new storage facilities that are preventing a glut of gas on the market. The ultra-low gas prices that were devastating the coal industry in 2011 and 2012 weren’t sustainable forever. So what happens now? A couple of points:

[thackney]

[Huskrrrr]

Need more gigawatts for those leafs and Volts.

[thackney]

Source for the data:

Coal regains some electric generation market share from natural gas
http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=11391

After an equal share of electric power was generated from coal and natural gas in April 2012, EIA's most recent preliminary data through March 2013 show coal has generated 40% or more of the nation's electricity each month since November 2012, with natural gas fueling about 25% of generation during the same period.

Since May 2012, a combination of higher prices for natural gas and increased demand for electricity during the summer months led electric systems across much of the country to increase their use of coal-fired units. In March 2013, coal-fired units generated a little over 130,000 megawatthours of electricity, while natural gas units produced nearly 85,000 megawatthours.

Heading into the 2013 spring shoulder season (between winter and summer), when demand for electricity typically falls, higher prices for natural gas reduced the fuel's share of total generation below the record levels of last April.

Nonetheless, the coal share of total generation remained well below its typical range prior to 2009. Between 2001 and 2008, the coal share (on an annual basis) ranged from 48% to 51%. Coal last achieved a 50% share in 2005 and is expected to be 40% in 2013, according to the most recent Short-Term Energy Outlook.

Recent statistics on electricity generation and the consumption, prices, and quantity of fuels used to produce electricity through March 2013 were released in the Electric Power Monthly, and regional trends in the use of these resources were discussed in the Electricity Monthly Update.

[Timber Rattler]

Brad Plumer is a clueless idiot.

[Gay State Conservative]

The US,I’ve read,has coal reserves equal to 300 years at current production rates.Whatever *we* have here...oil,gas,coal...we should use.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

I see nuclear energy in your chart, but where’s nucular energy?

[thackney]

? ? ? ?

[1010RD]

I see that Other includes petroleum, purchased steam, nonbiogenic municipal solid wastes, batteries, and other sources of electric generation, but what is contained in the category Other Renewables?

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks eagleye85.

[MasterGunner01]

Not if the EPA has anything to say about it. They intend to destroy the coal industry.

[thackney]

but what is contained in the category Other Renewables?

Renewables that are not hydropower. Wind, Solar, geothermal, etc

[1010RD]

Do you have a source on the breakout of those constituent parts for that particular line item?

It seems to have grown significantly over time, although slowly, and I wonder what growth is what part as well as how much is misallocation of capital due to government incentives.

[thackney]

Table 1.1.A. Net Generation by Other Renewable Sources: Total (All Sectors), 2003-March 2013
http://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.cfm?t=epmt_1_01_a

Older data sets available at the link above.

Cheers

[thackney]

Also see:

Table 1.14.A. Net Generation from Other Renewable Sources
by State, by Sector, March 2013 and 2012
http://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.cfm?t=epmt_1_14_a

[thackney]

And if you really like digging around for and through data:

ELECTRICITY: Generation and thermal output
http://www.eia.gov/electricity/data.cfm#generation

[1010RD]

Once I take over the US executive would you be my DOE head?

We’d be mostly dismantling it and parsing its valuable parts out to private companies to pay down the debt.

You’d also be in charge of the DHS jackboots that would escort DOE execs and employees out of the building.

Can you also do criminal investigations?

;]

You’re terrific and I always appreciate your posts, particularl when I dump your data on some unsuspecting liberal. Facts just ruin their day.

[thackney]

Once I take over the US executive would you be my DOE head?

Uhmm, no.

I'm not willing to live in D.C.

[1010RD]

Would you be willing to telecommute or use the interwebs? I mean if you’re all I think you are it would be a 2 month gig with full benes.

[thackney]

Can I use a street sweeper for implementation?

And I don't mean one of these:

Actually, I don't think even raising kids would prepare me sufficiently for dealing with Congress and the like.