Why natural gas is a bridge fuel to nowhere
For decades, coal-fired power dominated the U.S. energy supply—and was a leading source of greenhouse gas emissions. But a combination of factors including cheap natural gas, stronger pollution controls, increasing investment in renewable power and improved energy efficiency have pushed coal’s share of the energy market down to 33 percent and with it the carbon-intensive fuel’s share of the nation’s greenhouse pollution. As a result, this year will be the first when CO2 emissions from coal-fired power plants drop below those from natural gas, according to a new analysis from the federal Energy Information Agency. Natural-gas-fired power equaled coal’s 1.5 billion metric tons of carbon pollution in 2015, according to the report, while natural gas use was 81 percent higher than coal’s. The EIA estimates that natural gas’ share of energy-related CO2 will exceed that of still-declining coal by about 10 percent this year.
