New energy projection says coal will keep losing out to natural gas - Entrepreneur Generations

"Just a day after federal regulators nixed a major Trump administration proposal to shore up the struggling coal industry, the nation’s top energy forecaster predicted continuing, slow declines in U.S. coal production and in the burning of coal for electricity in 2018 and 2019, thanks to cheap natural gas and coal plant retirements," Chris Mooney reports for The Washington Post.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration's monthly report projected that coal production will decline from 773 million short tons in 2017 to 759 million in 2018 and 741 million in 2019. Burning coal for electricity, which is its main use in the U.S., will also decline steadily. By 2019, the report predicts that natural gas will provide 34 percent of electricity in the U.S. and coal will provide 28 percent. In 2003, coal provided 51 percent and natural gas 17 percent.

"The report offers the latest evidence that while the Trump administration’s focus on energy production may advantage some fossil fuels — the report also predicts a record U.S. crude oil production of 10.3 million barrels a day in 2018, followed by 10.8 million in 2019 — it’s proving more difficult to change the trajectory for coal," Mooney reports. "That’s because it’s a carbon-intensive fuel that faces not only adverse policies but also market forces, such as the booming production of natural gas thanks to fracking."

Christopher Knittel, a professor of applied economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said that Trump's administration may not realize that cheap natural gas is killing coal, not regulation. "And, if anything, the policies of the current administration are going to exacerbate that," he told Mooney, "in the sense that they’re opening up lands for more drilling, which is likely to generate more oil but can also generate more natural gas — which might be the final nail in the coal coffin, if you will."






from The Rural Blog http://ift.tt/2mx39cT New energy projection says coal will keep losing out to natural gas - Entrepreneur Generations

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