Looks like King Coal is rolling around in his grave: a recent report released by SNL Energy indicates that coal has been usurped by natural gas as the No. 1 power source in the U.S.
The report surmises that natural gas beats out coal by a measly percentage point. As of July 1, some 31 percent of America's power is sourced from natural gas, with coal at 30 percent, nuclear power at 20 percent, and eco-friendly renewables at 9 percent. (Pet products - "pet products," heh - make up 1 percent. Fun fact!) SNL Energy is a subsidiary of SNL Financial, a financial corporate information firm.
In comparison with the compiled 2015 stats, 44 percent of our fuel source was coal-based in 2010, which reflects a 14 percent decline.
While this might not be great news for the coal industry, the decrease in coal usage takes a load off the environment. As reported by the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit advocacy coalition of scientists, the waste that coal creates is catastrophic:
"Waste created by a typical coal plant includes more than 125,000 tons of ash and 193,000 tons of sludge from the smokestack scrubber each year. Nationally, at least 42 percent of coal combustion waste ponds and landfills are unlined. [...] Toxic substances in the waste - including arsenic, mercury, chromium, and cadmium - can contaminate drinking water supplies and damage vital human organs and the nervous system."
And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Despite the fading trend of using coal as a primary power source, natural gases aren't much of an alternative, either. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, fossil fuels are lethal for environmental ecosystems (in addition to causing massive landslides, oil spills, underground tar leaks, and all of that good stuff) and produce extremely lethal toxic air emissions, including methane, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen oxide.
And let's not even get started on nuclear power -- Fukushima, anyone? Guess this is a good opportunity to get those green energy initiatives into full swing.
