Fossil Fuel Use for Electric Generation Falls to Lowest Level Since 1994

By Editors of Power Engineering

Driven by massive declines in coal, overall fossil fuel use in electric generation fell to the lowest level since 1994, the Energy Information Administration reported.

Total petroleum, natural gas and coal use fell to 22.5 quadrillion BTUs last year.

Coal represented the majority of the decline, as its use fell to its lowest level since 1982. Though petroleum use represents a relatively small portion of power generation, its use declined even more to the lowest since at least 1949, the earliest year for that data.

Natural gas use had been increasing over the last two decades, but even it fell slightly in 2017 behind its record high set in 2016.

In energy-equivalent terms, more coal was consumed in the power sector than natural gas in 2017, at 12.7 quads and 9.5 quads, respectively. However, in terms of electricity generation, natural gas-fired power plants in the electric power sector produced more electricity than coal-fired plants, at 31 percent and 30 percent of the U.S. total, respectively, in 2017. Natural gas-fired units tend to be more energy efficient, especially since combined-cycle units became more widespread close to 20 years ago.

The EIA predicted that, by the end of 2018, natural gas combined-cycle units could surpass conventional coal-fired power plants to become the most prevalent technology for generating electricity in the United States.

As a side-effect of the decline of coal and petroleum, carbon dioxide emissions from the electric power sector fell t the lowest levels since 1987.