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US electricity industry's use of coal fell to historic low in 2015 as plants closed
(guardian-, 4 Feb 2016) The biggest source of climate pollution dropped to 34% of US electricity generation and co-author of a new report says: ‘These are permanent changes’.
America’s use of coal for electricity dropped to its lowest point in the historical record in 2015, delivering a new blow to an industry already in painful decline.
The dirtiest of fossil fuels and America’s biggest single source of climate pollution, coal accounted for just 34% of US electricity generation last year, according to the Sustainable Energy in America handbook on Thursday.
It was the smallest share for coal in the electricity mix since 1949, the first year in which Energy Information Administration records were kept.
“It was a really big year,” said Colleen Regan, a power analyst for Bloomberg New Energy Finance, who was co-author of the report for the Business Council on Sustainable Energy. “It was a landmark year with a long-term trajectory that we saw as the US decarbonising its power fleet.”
guardian-, 4 Feb 2016: US electricity industry's use of coal fell to historic low in 2015 as plants closed 
