Gas Passing...

...Coal as the Major Source of US Electric Power

Preliminary data for April show that natural gas plants generated the same share of U.S. electricity as coal ones -- 32% -- for the first time since the U.S. Energy Information Administration began keeping records decades ago. EIA is the statistical arm of the Department of Energy.

"Natural gas prices as delivered to power plants were at a ten-year low" in April, the EIA said this week in disclosing the data, which it said may change. Another factor, as the agency reported last month, is coal's continuing decline in output -- 19% between the first quarter of 2011 and the first quarter of 2012.

Natural gas well produced by fracking in Pennsylvania

This is great news.  Coal is a pretty lousy source of energy from an environmental point of view.  Most coal is mined by surface mining at this point, producing vast tracts of stripped land and piles of spoils.  Gas is mined by drilling wells, with much more limited impact on the land.  Coal is a much dirtier fuel than natural gas, too, with many contaminants that need to be controlled.  Gas is relatively free of contaminants.  And if you're worried about CO2 production, gas produces much less per kilowatt of energy produced.

Frack, baby, frack!