The US Is Now More Dependent On Fossil Fuel Power Than China

Oil Price ^ | 10/25/2024 | Tsevatana Paraskova

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Increased use of natural gas for power generation has made the United States more dependent on fossil fuels for its electricity supply this year than China, the world’s top carbon emitter.

Since June 2024, high U.S. summer electricity demand has been mostly met by increased gas-fired power generation, while a rebound in hydropower in China has limited to some extent the share of coal in its electricity supply.

As a result, fossil fuels – including natural gas and coal – have had an average share of 62.4% of total electricity output in the United States since June. This compares to a lower fossil fuel share in the coal-dominated power system in China, where fossil fuels accounted for 60.5% of generation between June and September, according to data from energy think tank Ember reported by Reuters columnist Gavin Maguire.

The rise in natural gas power output could undermine the current U.S. goals of making the grid zero-carbon by 2035.

U.S. power generation from natural gas surged by 20% in the first nine months of 2024, compared to the same period of 2019. The share of gas in power supply has jumped to 43% from 38% five years ago.

In recent years, power demand in the United States, the single largest portion of which is delivered by gas-fired power plants, has soared and is expected to continue to surge with rising electrification and more electricity necessary to power and cool data centers.

U.S. power-generating companies are announcing plans for the highest volume of new natural gas-fired capacity in years as the AI boom is driving demand for electricity.

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Saturn’s moon Titan has methane (CH₄, the simplest hydrocarbon) in its atmosphere. I wonder when its dinosaurs died off.

https://science.nasa.gov/saturn/moons/titan/facts/

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Anyway, I get real tired of people claiming it was a fake problem. It didn’t materialize because it was accurately predicted and then solved.

I think you missed the point.

We were told incessantly by our government and so-called media that all the computers in the world would stop working at midnight, 12/31/1999, and we would wake up to a collapsed society the next day.

Just like all the other propaganda they spew to control us. You know, like WMDs in Iraq, Russian ladies peed on Trumps bed in Moscow, COVID (shut down society for two weeks to flatten the curve), and the vax that was 100% safe and effective -- except it wasn't.

Yes, the Y2K problem was real, and so was the fearmongering. You made my point. The world did not stop turning as we were told it would.