nuclear-news

Earthtoys – Coal, Nuclear Decline As Renewables Increase Share Of U.S. Electricity Supply

COAL, NUCLEAR ELECTRICITY GENERATION DECLINES
AS RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES SOAR;
NON-HYDRO RENEWABLES GROW BY TEN PERCENT OVER 2007

Industry News February 18, 2009

 Ken Bossong,

Washington DC – According to the latest figures published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) in its “Electric Power Monthly” report released on February 13, 2009, renewable sources of electricity enjoyed significant growth during the past year while nuclear and coal both experienced notable declines.

Specifically, EIA reports that net electricity generation in the United States dropped by 0.9 percent from November 2007 to November 2008. This was the fourth consecutive month that net generation was down compared to the same calendar month in 2007.

The drop in coal-fired generation was the largest absolute fuel-specific decline from November 2007 to November 2008 as it fell by 4,380 thousand megawatt-hours, or 2.7 percent. Declines in Texas, Georgia, Missouri, Tennessee, and West Virginia totaled 4,262 thousand megawatt-hours.

Nuclear generation was down by 2.3 percent and was second only to coal-fired generation in its contribution to the national drop in net generation. The biggest drop in generation at a nuclear plant was at the Millstone facility in Connecticut, which was down for part of the month for a refueling outage.
On the other hand, EIA figures show that renewable energy, including conventional hydropower, increased by 7.3 percent — reflecting a combined increase of 6.1 percent in conventional hydropower coupled with a 10.0 percent increase in non-hydro renewables (i.e., solar, wind, geothermal, biomass).

Earthtoys – Coal, Nuclear Decline As Renewables Increase Share Of U.S. Electricity Supply

February 19, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | ENERGY, USA