The carbon intensity of the U.S. power sector reached a new low in 2019, more than a third below its 2005 level, according to a new analysis by Carnegie-Mellon University. Drop tracks an accelerated collapse in the burning of coal.
According to an analysis by Carnegie-Mellon's Scott Institute for Energy Innovation, the carbon emissions in the power sector were 11 per cent lower than just a year earlier in 2019. The data for 2019 precedes more recent changes to the coronavirus lockdown.
“Some good news,” tweeted Costa Samaras, co-director of the Scott Institute’s Power Sector Carbon Index. “We ran the latest numbers and the annual CO2 intensity of the US power sector for 2019 was 33% lower than it was in 2005, falling below 400 g/kWh for the first time ever.”
Samaras also announced that, in the 4th quarter of 2019, wind power increased its share by 20 per cent from the previous year and solar power by 18 per cent, while coal decreased by 22 per cent. Natural gas increased by 12%.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported today that coal generation has reached a 42-year low. Coal plants are retiring, and those that remain open are being used less, reports the EIA.
“We're adding new power plants, natural gas, and renewables. So the grid is changing, and we want to track that,” Azevedo said. “And the way we have done that is to assemble a large data set that includes how much emissions come out of every single power plant in the United States and divide that by the total generation that is produced by all those power plants in that same year.”
US Power Sector CO2 Emissions Intensity:
Although this analysis precedes the coronavirus lockdown, many experts expect that renewables will continue to grow this year, even as the COVID-19 conditions for fossil fuels have worsened.
“Amid today’s unparalleled health and economic crises, the plunge in demand for nearly all major fuels is staggering, especially for coal, oil and gas,” said Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency. “Only renewables are holding up during the previously unheard-of slump in electricity use.
Other analysts reported similar findings. "The U.S. Power use is set to decline more sharply in 2020 than any year in the last two decades, "said Raymond James," and renewables are set to gain more share in 2020 than ever before.
Renewables may grow more slowly than originally predicted for 202o, experts say, but they will continue to grow while fossil fuels decline.
“It is still too early to determine the longer-term impacts,” Birol said, “but the energy industry that emerges from this crisis will be significantly different from the one that came before.”
