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Electricity

Pic-of-the-Week: Has the Shift From Coal to Natural Gas Stalled? (10/06/2014)

Has the Shift From Coal to Natural Gas in Electricity Production Stalled? Just ten years ago, coal was used to generate 50% of U.S. electricity while natural gas held only an 18% share. Toss in the shale gas revolution and move forward to early 2012 and you have both coal and natural gas producing 32% of U.S. power each. It appeared natural gas was well on its way to replacing much of the coal-fired production in the U.S.

However, our pic-of-the-week illustrates that since early 2012 the shift has taken a clear short-term breather. Coal has made a small comeback and is now closer to 40% of total production. Natural gas has eased back a bit to just under a 30% share. Is the shift from coal to natural gas over?

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Are U.S. States Equally Prepared for a Carbon-Constrained World? (2010)

State-Level Energy Intensity and Carbon Intensity by GDP (2008)
State-Level Energy Intensity and Carbon Intensity by GDP (2008)

The Kansas City Fed’s Ten Magazine recently profiled an article I wrote with Amy Jones on how the 50 states stack up in terms of preparedness for carbon constraints. For many states, particularly energy and ag states, not very well.

The full article is available online at www.KansasCityFed.org http://www.kansascityfed.org/publicat/econrev/pdf/10q4Snead_Jones.pdf

“The findings suggest that the New England, Mid-Atlantic, and West Coast states are generally best prepared. These states have the least energy-intensive economies and use fuel mixes with low average carbon intensity; hence, they already release proportionately less CO2 . The states expected to be hardest hit by carbon constraints are the traditional energy-producing and agricultural states. These states have energy-intensive economies, by both domestic and international standards, and will face a considerable challenge in altering their energy use and emissions patterns.”

The included graph illustrates the role of income level in energy use and emissions.  Consistent with existing international research, states with lower GDP per capita tend to be more carbon and energy intensive.

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