Coal, Nuclear eleectricity generation declines as renewable energy sources soar;
Non hydro renewable energy sources grow by ten percent over 2007
SUN DAY CAMPAIGN
6930 Carroll Avenue, Suite #340; Takoma Park, MD 20912
301-270-6477 x.23
sun-day-campaign@hotmail.com
News Advisory
Coal, Nuclear eleectricity generation declines as renewable energy sources soar;
Non hydro renewable energy sources grow by ten percent over 2007
For Immediate Release: Wednesday - February 18, 2009
Contact: Ken Bossong, 301-270-6477 x.23
Washington DC – According to the latest figures published by the U.S. Energy
Information Administration (EIA) in its "Electric Power Monthly" report
released on February 13, 2009, renewable sources of electricity enjoyed
significant growth during the past year while nuclear and coal both
experienced notable declines.
Specifically, EIA reports that net electricity generation in the United
States dropped by 0.9 percent from November 2007 to November 2008.
This was the fourth consecutive month that net generation was down
compared to the same calendar month in 2007.
The drop in coal-fired generation was the largest absolute fuel-specific
decline from November 2007 to November 2008 as it fell by 4,380 thousand
megawatt-hours, or 2.7 percent. Declines in Texas, Georgia, Missouri,
Tennessee, and West Virginia totaled 4,262 thousand megawatt-hours.
Nuclear generation was down by 2.3 percent and was second only to coal-fired
generation in its contribution to the national drop in net generation.
The biggest drop in generation at a nuclear plant was at the Millstone
facility in Connecticut, which was down for part of the month for a refueling outage.
On the other hand, EIA figures show that renewable energy, including
conventional hydropower, increased by 7.3 percent -- reflecting
a combined increase of 6.1 percent in conventional hydropower
coupled with a 10.0 percent increase in non-hydro renewables
(i.e., solar, wind, geothermal, biomass).
In particular, according to EIA, net generation from wind sources
was 42.4 percent higher than it had been in November 2007. The
higher wind generation totals in Texas, California, Minnesota,
and Illinois accounted for 53.1 percent of the national rise.
Conventional hydroelectric power provided 6.4 percent of the U.S.'s
total net electricity generation, while other renewables
(biomass, geothermal, solar, and wind) and other miscellaneous energy sources
generated the remaining 3.1 percent of electric power.
Conventional Hydroelectric Other Renewables
(thousand megawatt-hours)
229,168 95,685 (1st 11 months - 2007)
243,220 105,284 (1st 11 months - 2008)
+6.1% +10.0% (change 2008 vs. 2007)
The data cited above are taken from EIA’s latest "Electric Power Monthly"
and can be found at:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epm/epm_sum.html
and
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epm/table1_1.html
and
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epm/table1_1_a.html
The SUN DAY Campaign is a non-profit research and educational organization
founded in 1993 to promote sustainable energy technologies as cost-effective
alternatives to nuclear power and fossil fuels.
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Coal, Nuclear eleectricity generation declines as renewable energy sources soar [General]