Of all the nation’s electricity, 35.8 percent was generated without emitting carbon dioxide, this year through June. The remaining 64.2 percent was generated with emissions.
57.1 percent of the zero-carbon power came from nuclear plants. 16.6 percent came from wind farms. 3.5 percent came from solar.
Break down that 3.5 percent. Most of it came from utility-scale solar, 2.4 percent. Just 0.6 percent came from residential solar. Almost as much, 0.5 percent, came from industrial and commercial solar.
Utility-scale solar out-produced residential solar by four-to-one.
How does this year compare to the same period of last year?
Of the nation’s electricity, 32.5 percent was generated without emitting carbon dioxide, last year through June. The remaining 67.5 percent was generated with emissions.
60.1 percent of the zero-carbon power came from nuclear plants. 14.4 percent came from wind farms. 2.9 percent came from solar.
Break down that 2.9 percent. Most of it came from utility-scale solar, 2.0 percent. Just 0.4 percent came from residential solar. 0.5 percent came from industrial and commercial solar, as in this year.
From last year to this year, zero-carbon power increased by 7.3 percent. Power with emissions decreased by 7.1 percent. That’s a large shift to zero-carbon power.
Power with emissions dramatically fell. This power also became significantly greener.
Last year, coal plants produced 50.8 percent of the power with emissions. Cleaner gas plants produced 44.9 percent.
This year, coal plants produced only 43.7 percent of the power with emissions. Gas plants produced 52.1 percent. That’s a large shift to low-carbon power.
Take a closer look at the decrease in power with emissions that has taken place this year.
A little over half of the decrease was from a 2.4 percent fall in total power generation (and total power consumption). A little under half of the decrease was from the rise in zero-carbon power.
Zero-carbon number-crunching courtesy of Public Utilities Fortnightly.
Steve Mitnick, Editor-in-Chief, Public Utilities Fortnightly
E-mail me: mitnick@fortnightly.com
