{"id":1123277,"date":"2019-06-26T13:52:41","date_gmt":"2019-06-26T13:52:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=994973"},"modified":"2019-06-26T13:52:41","modified_gmt":"2019-06-26T13:52:41","slug":"renewable-energy-sources-in-the-us-now-greater-than-coal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1123277","title":{"rendered":"Renewable energy sources in the US now greater than coal"},"content":{"rendered":"

While the United States\u2019 coal industry has been for years losing ground to alternative energy sources, including shale and natural gas, renewables have surpassed the fossil fuel for the first time, official data shows.<\/p>\n

According to the latest report<\/a> by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), clean energy sources supplied more of the US\u2019s electricity than coal in April this year than ever before.<\/p>\n

The breakthrough reflects the declining cost of solar and
\nwind and also heightened environmental concerns about coal.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Since peaking in 2008, US coal consumption has plunged 39% to the\u00a0lowest level in 40 years.<\/p>\n

EIA\u2019s\u00a0Monthly Energy Review<\/em><\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

Some of it is also because of seasonal issues, such as planned shut downs for some coal plants maintenance during the spring, when demand for electricity is low. Those months, analysts warn, also tend to be a strong period for hydro and wind power.<\/p>\n

Since peaking in 2008, US coal consumption has plunged 39%
\nto the lowest level in 40 years<\/a>, despite President Donald Trump’s
\npromises to prop up the industry by revoking or lightening up environmental
\nrules.<\/p>\n

The country\u2019s renewable energy sector proved to have
\nslightly more installed capacity than coal, which means that US power plants were
\nable produce more energy from clean sources than the fossil fuel in April, for
\nthe first time in history.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0Federal Energy Regulatory Commission report<\/a> shows the total available installed generating capacity of coal stood at 257.48 gigawatts two months ago. Renewable energy \u2014 including not just solar and wind but also water, biomass and geothermal steam \u2014 narrowly overtook coal by climbing to 257.53 gigawatts of installed capacity that month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"
The US coal industry continues to decline despite President Donald Trump’s promises to restore it to its former glory by gutting environmental rules.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite the numbers, renewables aren’t expected to overtake
\ncoal on an annual basis for several years.<\/p>\n

Analysts at Global Risk Insights note<\/a> that coal continues to be the US\u2019s leading source of carbon emissions that contribute to climate change and the effects coal pollution are estimated to kill about 7,500 Americans every year. <\/p>\n

The pace of the change, however, is picking up \u2014 it was only three years ago when\u00a0coal was surpassed by natural gas<\/a>\u00a0as the US’ main power source. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While the US coal industry has been for years losing ground to renewables, they overtook the fossil fuel for the first time ever in April.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1035,949,369],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1123277"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1123277"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1123277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1123412,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1123277\/revisions\/1123412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1123277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1123277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1123277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}