Utilities are using less coal to produce electricity, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Shipments of coal by train, the typical delivery mechanism for power plants, during the first quarter fell 18 percent to 1.55 million carloads, the smallest since 1994.
Coal remains the largest single fuel for electricity production, but its percentage of the total power supply mix has been slipping; we previously reported that its share dropped below 40 percent at the end of 2011 for the first time since 1978. EIA cites mild weather that made people use less energy and competition from natural gas as reasons for the decline. Natural gas is selling cheaply, trading at 10-year lows on the New York Mercantile Exchange. There's also a domestic abundance of it because of hydraulic fracturing. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission this week approved conversion of terminals at ports to export natural gas.
Coal is shipped mostly from Central Appalachia and the Powder River Basin in Wyoming. Thomas Content of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports Wisconsin relies more heavily on coal than any other state. (Read more)
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