Scheduled to be finalized in June barring legal challenges, the Clean Power Plan is likely to see its approval complicated by unfolding political theater that could define U.S. climate policies next year, and for many years thereafter. Aiming to slash emissions from existing coal-fired power plants, the plan sends a strong signal to utilities that natural gas and renewables are the federal government’s answer for how electric power companies should tackle climate change.
The natural gas that utilities will use to replace coal was itself the subject of a climate controversy that is likely to a major part of any ongoing energy conversation. Most natural gas is produced using fracking, the same method energy companies use to extract the crude oil that ignited the shale oil boom of the past five years. Public health concerns associated with fracking prompted a ban in New York State, and study after study produced mounting evidence that large amounts of climate change-driving methane is leaking from both fracking operations and the natural gas distribution system leading to homes and power plants.
How those studies and low oil and gas prices will affect renewables will soon be readily apparent. Electricity generation from renewables was expected to grow by nearly 2 percent and power generation from wind, solar and biomass alone was expected to surpass hydropower production for the first time in history by the end of 2014. That growth is likely to continue.
New wind farm power generating capacity is set to double in 2015, contributing nearly 5 percent of all U.S. power generation. Though solar power is expected to account for only a tiny fraction of power generation in the New Year — about 0.6 percent — growth is nearly inevitable as prices, which have fallen about 7 percent each year since 1998, continue to decline.
Read more at U.S. at Brink of Turning Point in Energy
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