Top fuel

What fuel historically produced most of the electricity generated in the U.S. since 1949? Coal. But by 2019 coal was generating less than a quarter of all U.S. electricity.

Natural gas overtook coal as the fuel which produces most of our electricity five years ago. By 2019 natural gas generated about 38% of our electricity.

Check out this bar chart race showing "U.S. Electricity Generation by Energy Source (%), 1949-2019" (I have been unable to embed it here on my blog).

This is the biggest reason U.S. CO2 emissions have been tumbling. Coal plants have to some degree cleaned up their operations, but natural gas plants emit far less CO2 to begin with.

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(cont'd tomorrow)