40% of US electricity is now emissions-free

Good news as natural gas, coal, and solar see the biggest changes.

Just before the holiday break, the US Energy Information Agency released data on the country’s electrical generation. Because of delays in reporting, the monthly data runs through October, so it doesn’t provide a complete picture of the changes we’ve seen in 2023.

But some of the trends now seem locked in for the year: wind and solar are likely to be in a dead heat with coal, and all carbon-emissions-free sources combined will account for roughly 40 percent of US electricity production.

Wooster,
@Wooster@startrek.website avatar

Hydroelectric production has dropped by about six percent since last year, causing it to slip from 6.1 percent to 5.8 percent of the total production. Depending on the next couple of months, that may allow solar to pass hydro on the list of renewables.

That’s a little disappointing. Hydro seems to always be forgotten amongst renewable sources. Granted, it’s the most location specific of the renewables, but still.

Stovetop,

Hydro is often environmentally destructive in its own way, though. Building dams may be controversial when it upsets river and lake ecosystems, and may even deprive some folks of what could be a primary food source.

An example that came up recently.

LesserAbe,

I just saw an interesting video about a turbine-less hydro generator that also doesn’t require a lot of head: https://youtu.be/ArQE3SB0kyM?si=9a6DvG5g3D4bJiQl

1stTime4MeInMCU,

It might also be environmentally precarious but I’m interested in seeing some of the ocean current and heat differential and other non river hydro solutions being proposed.

conno02,
@conno02@lemmy.world avatar

wow-- it’s that much? that’s awesome!

fmstrat,

It is great to see, but it’s not a big shift year over year. Hopefully with declining solar costs and advancements in SMRs we see more removal of coal and gas.

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