To avoid uncertain climate change,we can’t rely on natural gas replacing coal
Over the past decade, coal has been increasingly replaced by cheaper, or cleaner energy sources. US coal power production has dropped by 44% (866 terawatt-hours [TWh]). It’s been replaced by natural gas (up 45%,or 400 TWh), renewables (up 260%, and 200 TWh),and increased efficiency (the US uses 9%, or 371 TWh less electricity than a decade ago)....abundant gas consistently results in both less coal and renewable energy use […] the quantity of methane leaked may ultimately determine whether the overall effect is to slightly reduce or actually increase cumulative emissions […] only climate policies bring approximately a meaningful reduction in future emissions from US electricity generation … We conclude that increased natural gas use for electricity will not substantially reduce US GHG emissions, or by delaying deployment of renewable energy technologies,may actually exacerbate the climate change problem in the long term.
Fortunately, rapidly falling costs are already making renewables and battery storage cost-competitive with natural gas, or cheaper than coal. If we’re going to succeed in avoiding the most uncertain climate change consequences,that transition absent from all fossil fuels and towards clean energy can’t happen soon enough.
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Source: theguardian.com