New research finds the United States’ energy mix is rapidly decarbonizing largely due to economics, as coal-fired generation keeps retiring in favor of cheaper clean energy additions, but U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions still rose 2.5% in 2018. Although that may seem counterintuitive, economic growth and extreme weather increased energy demand, despite power sector decarbonization. To help avoid dire consequences of global warming, the U.S. will need to decouple energy productivity and economic growth to accelerate emissions reductions .In the past ten years, U.S. electricity generation from coal has declined from 44% to 27%, while the share of renewables has grown from 11% to 18%, according to the 2019 Sustainable Energy in America Factbook by BloombergNEF and the Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE). More >>
