Most Electricity in U.S. Still Comes From Coal; Where Does Your State Stand?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Hat tip, Gizmodo, via Jalopnik: This Is Where Your Electricity Comes From

Most Electricity in U.S. Still Comes From Coal; Where Does Your State Stand?

Eonomics
2:21 pm ET Aug 14, 2014
By Rani Molla

Since the first quarter of 2001, overall electricity generation from all fuel sources has risen 13% in the U.S. The main sources of that electricity have changed slightly. ... In 2014 more states use natural gas as their main fuel for electricity generation compared to 2001, while several fewer states use coal than at the start of the millennium. Hawaii and Massachusetts were the only states in 2001 to get the majority of their electricity from petroleum. While Q1 data for petroleum usage is Hawaii says it is “not meaningful due to large relative standard error,” previous data shows that petroleum is still the most used fuel for electricity there.

In total, 26 states use coal, 11 natural gas, seven nuclear, and four hydroelectricity as their main source of electricity creation in 2014. Maine uses other renewable sources — predominantly biomass — as its main source of electricity generation, followed closely by natural gas. (See how all fuels factor in to U.S. electricity.) All these numbers are first quarter data, meaning that they may not be representative of an entire year’s energy production but rather the first three months.

Toggle the bar charts below to see how much electricity was generated the first quarters of 2001 and 2014 by fuel: coal, natural gas, nuclear, hydroelectricity, petroleum and other renewables.

UPDATE: Petroleum still was the top fuel source in Hawaii in 2014. An earlier version of this post showed coal as the top source. The EIA data for Q1 2014 on petroleum was missing due to problems with January data, but petroleum generation in February and March alone outstripped coal for the whole quarter.

There are charts and graphs galore at the link. Such as:

[bananas]

1. No, most US electricity is not from coal; only 39% is from coal, 61% is from other sources.

Coal is the largest single source of electricity, but most electricity is not from coal.
http://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm?page=electricity_in_the_united_states

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. Thanks for that link.

I was thinking of looking into that, having seen that the EIA was cited in the graphic as the source of the information.

I wonder if they'll revise the headline of the article.

Thank you for writing. Best wishes.

[Warpy]

3. NM is officially coal

but the largest and filthiest plants are up in the Four Corners, outside the state line. The pollution they spew goes downwind into San Juan County, and the air quality there is often moderate to poor.

Those plants are also why, when the wind is right, visitors to the Grand Canyon can't see much of it through the haze.

It's changing slowly, solar and wind installation being built every single year to increase power from renewable sources. NM has an abundance of both, plus the non arable, grazing poor land to put them on.

While I'd be delighted to see coal phased out completely, I know this is unrealistic because it's vital to the metal industries.