The Briefing Room

General Category => Science, Technology and Knowledge => Energy => Topic started by: thackney on July 18, 2018, 12:45:15 pm

Title: US Government Report Shows Natural Gas Approaching Record Highs
Post by: thackney on July 18, 2018, 12:45:15 pm
US Government Report Shows Natural Gas Approaching Record Highs
https://interestingengineering.com/us-government-report-shows-natural-gas-approaching-record-highs
July, 17th 2018

Natural gas is set to overtake its coal counterparts within the next two years, barring any intervention from the US government, according to new research from US officials.

Gas could fulfill to 37 percent of the overall electricity demand during the summer, and those numbers aren't likely to change. Coal, by comparison, is only expected to contribute 30 percent of that energy.

"In this outlook, coal's forecast share of electricity generation falls from 30 percent in 2017 to 28 percent in 2018 and to 27 percent in 2019," the report noted....

...The switch from coal to natural gas could be thanks to the continually cheaper natural gas prices. The EIA noted that between 2015 to 2017, natural gas costs fell to half of what they'd been in the previous decade....
Title: Re: US Government Report Shows Natural Gas Approaching Record Highs
Post by: IsailedawayfromFR on July 18, 2018, 01:04:15 pm
This is a curious and unexplained comment within article which is tough to discern whether it applies to natural gas or green energy:

While natural gas is cheaper than coal, the costs associated with greener power are also dropping. There's also the fact that the United States especially might be grossly underestimating just how much emissions they're emitting into the atmosphere.
Title: Re: US Government Report Shows Natural Gas Approaching Record Highs
Post by: thackney on July 18, 2018, 01:40:21 pm
This is a curious and unexplained comment within article which is tough to discern whether it applies to natural gas or green energy:

While natural gas is cheaper than coal, the costs associated with greener power are also dropping. There's also the fact that the United States especially might be grossly underestimating just how much emissions they're emitting into the atmosphere.

Looks completely unsubstantiated to me.  We might be grossly overestimating as well.