By Paolo von Schirach
February 20, 2013
WASHINGTON – Great news. The latest figures indicate that in the US coal consumption is down significantly, while natural gas is up. Given the low prices of US produced natural gas, (this is due to the additional supply made possible by shale gas extracted via “hydraulic fracturing”), natural gas is displacing coal as the fuel of choice for power plants.
Gas is clean
This is of course a bad economic development for coal miners. However, it is good news not just for energy companies extracting natural gas, but also for the environment. Natural gas is much cleaner than coal. While it produces emissions, it is the cleanest of all carbon based energy sources.