In a First, Wind and Solar Generated More Power Than Coal in U.S.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/in-a-first-wind-and-solar-generated-more-power-than-coal-in-u-s/

RENEWABLE ENERGY

In a First, Wind and Solar Generated More Power Than Coal in U.S.
Wind and solar produced more U.S. power than coal during the first five months of this year, as several coal plants closed and gas prices dropped

By Benjamin Storrow, E&E News on June 12, 2023

CLIMATEWIRE | Wind and solar generated more electricity than coal through May, an E&E News review of federal data shows, marking the first time renewables have outpaced the former king of American power over a five-month period.

The milestone illustrates the ongoing transformation of the U.S. power sector as the nation races to install cleaner forms of energy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels. Power markets have witnessed a precipitous drop in coal-fired generation this year, driven by low natural gas prices, a mild winter and a wave of coal plant retirements.

“From a coal perspective, it has been a disaster,” said Andy Blumenfeld, an analyst who tracks the industry at McCloskey by OPIS. “The decline is happening faster than anyone anticipated.”
Renewable energy generation exceeded coal-fired power in 2020 and 2022, but only when hydropower was counted as a source of renewable energy, according to figures compiled by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

This year has been different. Wind and solar sources generated a combined 252 terawatt-hours through the first five months of 2023, compared with coal output of 249 TWh, EIA data shows. Hydro generated an additional 117 TWh through May.
EIA’s numbers for April and May are preliminary, said Chris Higginbotham, an agency spokesperson.

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[TreasonousBastard]

1. Sounds like we're heading in right direction. Wonder if we'll...

get the chance to get there.

[KPN]

2. Take that Moochin Manchin, you wannabe

coal tycoon.

[CentralMass]

3. That is awesome. Thanks for posting the data.

[druidity33]

4. Wait for it, wait for it...

Pro-nuclear poster scoffing at renewables with vitriol in 3.....2.....1.....



K&R, Good News!

[hunter]

5. I don't scoff at renewables...

... I just don't see how they are going to save the world.

Without fossil fuel "backup power," especially natural gas, they are not economically viable.

[druidity33]

6. Well, you weren't who i was talking about. nt.

[NNadir]

7. I assume I qualify.

I think that if energy is unreliable, expensive, requires redundancy, is land and massive intensive, it is dirty and unsustainable.

The decline of coal in this country is a function of the use of dangerous natural gas. As we see in that coal burning hellhole Germany, when the gas is unavailable, coal comes back.

All this delusional horseshit about solar and wind has been here for decades.

Numbers don't lie however. The number that matters is the concentration of the dangerous fossil fuel waste carbon dioxide in the planetary atmosphere, 424.81 ppm recorded at Mauna Loa on Jume 11.

History will record that we nothing about climate change other than to cheer for spin.

Let's be clear about this, in the US a cheer for solar and wind is a cheer for dangerous natural gas, fracking the shit out of bedrock to trash the groundwater supplies of all future generations. When the gas runs out, the coal returns.

The people cheering for solar and wind however have never given a shit either for climate change or for the use of fossil fuels. I will not apologize for considering their rhetoric to be the language of gasbags, in every literal and figurative sense.

[druidity33]

8. There's the vitriol i was talking about! nt.

[NNadir]

9. Happy to help. It would be interesting, of course...

Last edited Tue Jun 13, 2023, 08:15 PM - Edit history (2)

...if all the self declared "nice" people selling the "solar and wind will save us" rhetoric could spare some of their wonderful gracious niceness to demonstrate a wiff of concern about deaths from fossil fuel waste, air pollution and climate change, but they're too nice to do so.

The death toll is still 19000 people per day, not counting the sure to come death toll from extreme weather and extreme heat.

I'm not too nice about this issue. Frankly I'm angry as hell about what this sick and silly bourgeois myopia has brought to humanity and all living things.

I'm certainly glad it shows. I couldn't live with myself if it were otherwise.

Have a wonderful popular evening.