EnergyU.S. power plants use more coal, bucking the trend toward natural gas

Power plants in the United States are burning more coal to produce electricity, bucking the trend toward using natural gas, and in the process emit more greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, a new government report says.

The L.A. Times reports  that power plants are the largest source of greenhouse gases, and the increase in coal use comes against the backdrop of President Obama’s initiative which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As part of the initiative, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was instructed to develop rules by 2014 to cut greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) says coal’s share of total domestic power generation in the first quarter of 2013 averaged 39.5 percent. Last year it was 35.4 percent.

Natural gas generation during the first quarter of 2013 averaged 25.8 percent this year, compared with 29.5 percent last year, the agency said in its recent Short-Term Energy Outlook.

The EIA says the reason for the increase in the use of coal is that coal prices are dropping and natural gas prices are rising. The agency expects the use of coal to continue to rise, with 40.1 percent of electricity generated by coal-burning through 2014, while the use of natural gas in power plants will fall to 27.3 percent.

The trend noted by the EIA weakens some of the argument of opponents of Obama’s climate initiative. These critics said the initiative was unnecessary because utility companies have been using more natural gas, which emits less heat-trapping carbon dioxide than coal. The Times notes that the EIA data show that at least this argument cannot be used against the administration climate initiative.

“Markets on their own may go in your direction for a period of time, but to ensure that we get reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in a significant, sustained way, you’re going to need government intervention,” James Bradbury of the World Resources Institute, told the Times.

The EIA says carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels will rise by 2.4 percent this year, and by 0.6 percent in 2014.

“The increase in emissions over the forecast period primarily reflects the projected increase in coal use for electricity generation, especially in 2013 as it rebounds from the 2012 decline,” the EIA report stated.

Burning coal to produce electricity was popular just a few years ago, but hydraulic fracturing led to a natural gas boom, driving down gas prices and making natural gas more competitive with coal.

The demand for natural gas got so high, however, that its price began to creep up at the same time that the price of coal dropped because of weakening demand for it. Now many utility companies, which have the technology allowing them to switch between the two options, are switching depending on which option is cheaper.

“What is the least expensive form of generation gets dispatched first: renewables, hydro, then maybe nuclear and then coal or natural gas,” Karen Obenshain of the Edison Electric Institute, told the Times.

According to Mark McCullough of American Electric Power, even with the impending regulations and the possible power plant closures, the United States will most likely not be able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 without a comprehensive effort to address carbon dioxide pollution.

“Electricity markets are very dynamic, and while there’s been a lot of press about the success story of the benefits of natural gas, it’s important to realize that that’s temporary and it depends on gas prices staying really low, and we’re starting to see there are these thresholds where utilities will switch back to higher-carbon fuel, like coal.”