Much has been said in recent months about America’s energy production and consumption. Specifically, which types of energy are optimal for today and — perhaps more importantly — for our needs tomorrow is a subject from town halls to coffee shop conversations and kitchen tables.
Bloomberg Intelligence’s research shows data centers, buildings filled with servers and other computing equipment for data storage and networking that supports operations and artificial intelligence (AI), could be responsible for as much as 17% of all U.S. electricity consumption by 2030.
One data center can require 50 times the electricity of a typical office building, according to The Department of Energy.
As America wrestles with its future energy needs, this indisputable fact remains: Natural gas is the affordable, reliable and clean energy source that should serve as the benchmark by which all other energy sources are measured.
Consider:
- Carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation have declined 61% due to increased use of natural gas over other sources like coal, according to The American Gas Association.
- The restarting of coal plants underscores the real issue, which is the need to build more gas-fired power plants fairly soon.
- U.S. utilities and investors plan to add 133 new natural gas-fired power plants to the nation’s grid, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data, by 2030.
- Renewable energy sources can’t keep up with our growing energy needs.
A tale of two Heartland states
One community in Omaha, Nebraska, is considering restarting an old coal power plant. We understand the urgency here, but the neighborhood that has had some of the worst air pollution in the region should consider other options.
The fact that they’re bringing a coal plant online in Nebraska illustrates the dire situation facing officials and energy companies with AI and the growing need for affordable, reliable energy for decades to come.
Here’s a better example from the neighboring state of Kansas, which is what The Empowerment Alliance (TEA) advocates should be happening nationwide.
- Kansas’ largest electric utility plans to build two new natural gas plants by the end of the decade.
Evergy, which serves 1.6 million customers in Kansas and Missouri, will construct combined-cycle natural gas plants — each with a 705-megawatt capacity — in 2029 and 2030.
A key takeaway comes from Democrat Gov. Laura Kelly, who said the plants would ensure reliable energy, including in emergencies or periods of high demand, like hot summer days. “As Kansas continues to transition to more sustainable energy, we’re doing it responsibly. These plants are much cleaner than traditional coal plants.”
We agree with Gov. Kelly’s rationale and we encourage other states with growing data center footprints, such as Ohio and Virginia, to follow suit.
Energy Security ARC
At TEA, we have a plan for our energy future called the Energy Security ARC. Natural gas is the obvious solution to our clean energy needs.
The two examples above underscore the crossroads that many communities, large and small, are facing regarding energy choices. The decisions made affect local jobs (165 new jobs in this city), and will have a direct impact on consumer costs for decades.
So they shouldn’t be taken lightly, based on these facts:
- The U.S. is the world leader in lowering carbon emissions, largely because of increased use of natural gas for electricity generation.
- Increased use of natural gas for electricity generation is the top reason for power sector emissions reductions over the past 17 years — almost double the impact compared to renewables.
- In 2022 alone, the shift to natural gas provided an emissions reduction equivalent to 156 coal-fired power plants operating for a year.
There are various practical options for energy, and those may include nuclear and coal. But natural gas is the clear choice when discussing affordable, reliable and clean energy. This pertains to millions of households, small businesses, family farms, factories and technologies still being developed.
Natural gas is America’s trusted energy choice — past, present and future.
The Empowerment Alliance was formed in 2019 to offer common-sense energy solutions that promote production and consumption of Affordable, Clean, Reliable natural gas. We believe that our nation’s energy independence is essential for America’s independence.
This article was originally published by RealClearEnergy and made available via RealClearWire.
Trashing coal fired plants is ultimately just more sucking up to The Green Blob. They are not really opposed to CO2, they are opposed to industrial society.
I couldn’t have said it better Tom. I don’t give a damn about CO2 and trying to ice the cake with more jobs is getting tiresome. Build all the gas plants you want, stop talking about it and do it. The same goes for coal and nuclear. The only job numbers I want to hear about are for dismantling wind and solar.
Yep, the sooner this insane hatred of coal and CO2 ends…
… the sooner we can get back to solid, cheap and reliable electricity supplies.
In a sane world they would remain the mainstay of electricity production.
The Return of the Luddites; Disney’s latest foray into the Lost Marbles Universe!
Restarting a coal plant is a good use of an existing resource. It also gives fuel flexibility. Putting all your eggs in the natural gas basket carries some risk.
Authors can not be found.
Google’s your friend=============>
https://empoweringamerica.org/
https://www.desmog.com/empowerment-alliance/
Google is no one’s friend. It can be a useful tool, but distrust unverifiable information found therein.
I remember back around ’01 or so when Google bought Deja News and
stuffed it down the memory hole, and came out with the motto of “don’t be evil”.
link at the bottom works, link at the top doesn’t
Home – TEA
It is a gas advocacy group.. obviously…
No problem with that, but they need to drop all the crap about lowering CO2 emissions.
Indeed. I see a lot of pro-nuclear posting on X that also pushes the low CO2 nonsense. They should stick to the very high utilization rates and 24×7 reliability aspects.
Probably a good idea to conserve gas though. It’s cheap now but might not remain cheap
Coal fired plants with scrubbers and fly ash collectors are CLEAN. To ignore that fact is causing waste and power scarcity. The double coal CO2 compared to NG is not a problem, but a blessing. NOx scrubbers are not necessary either, since nitrates provide free fertilization of an essential nutrient. Sulfur is a commodity; fly ash and clinkers (for cement and concrete) are commodities, all salable.
NG is a great resource too. Fugitive CH4 is now the favorite, new culprit in GW, but fugitive H2 (as an indirect GHG) is about to take the lead as H2 production is growing.
There is ALWAYS something, isn’t there!
One fact is clear however, NOTHING yet even approaches the utility of hydrocarbon fuels, after 50 years of propaganda to the contrary.
Please, please, Mr. Smith, for a new year resolution please turn off the bold typeface on your computer or whatever it is that you use to post here.
When the crisis comes, the Nebraska (Omaha) power plant will carry on, because the solid fuel it uses is readily stored on-site. But the Kansas-Missouri NG power plant will fail, because the remote delivery system (pipeline valves / pumps) is vulnerable to disruption.
All the cost-savings advantage of the latter can be lost, in a single weeklong failure, as happened in the Texas power crisis of 2021.*
Learn the lesson of ‘reliable energy [sic]’ from power plants, before it’s too late: “Democrat Gov. Laura Kelly, who said the plants would ensure reliable energy, including in emergencies or periods of high demand, like hot summer days.”
“ the solid fuel it uses is readily stored on-site ”
Let’s bold that:
” the solid fuel it uses is readily stored on-site“
“But it’s still fossil fuel”. Only elimination is acceptable. You’ll never assuage the green blob with anything but total annihilation.
Total annihilation of the green blob… sounds like a good plan !! 🙂
They totally suck when it comes to caring for the environment anyway.
All this yabbering about CO2 emissions plays right into the alarmist’s hands.
More atmospheric CO2 is needed, not a reduction.
CO2 emissions should never be a consideration, only cost and stability of supply.
Modern coal is a clean reliable power source.
Wind and solar are both incredibly polluting from mining stage, though manufacturing and installation, to their final short life disposal.
All I have to say about that is this:
CO2 reduction has no relevance other than a negative one. CO2 is the gas of life – without it, no plants, no life, no oxygene!
Bloomberg Intelligence!? If I’m curious about energy I’d much rather listen to Doomberg!
Advocating the use of gas for electricity generation because it is less CO2 producing is entirely the wrong focus.
Gas should be used because it is the least cost when it is.
Coal should be used when it is the least cost.
Nuclear should be used when it is least cost.
Renewables should be used when they are least cost.
That is the basic rule of sustainable economics. everything else is politics.
CO2 is a good thing.
The first thing Trump should do is instruct the EPA to redefine CO2 as an essential life giving gas. The EPA must remove the description of CO2 being a pollutant from its documents and policy directives.
I think modern nuclear, thorium in particular, is cleaner than natural gas. I welcome a discussion of it vs gas. Also, LPG.
I am in favour of classifying CO2 as a nutrient gas. I am in favour of coal fired generation of electricity, partly because of security of supply if regulators mandate at least a month’s worth of coal kept on site or nearby. Natural gas is too valuable as chemical feedstock to just burn it. We should have a depletion policy for fossil fuels. If and when they run out, human civilisation will be facing a real crisis, rather than the climate change nonsense. Finally, can someone explain how it is that if carbon dioxide is increasing in our atmosphere, there isn’t a reduction of oxygen. One atom of carbon ties up two atoms of oxygen. Where does the oxygen come from?
There are a few things to say. What matters is energy efficiency, it’s the key. CCNG has an efficiency of 60 to 65%. This allows the endothermy of photosynthesis to superate clearly and largely the heat losses from CO2 emissions. Heat losses together with volcanic tephras are the true issue for the greenhouse effect (see my Int J of Physics 7-4-3 https://pubs.sciepub.com/ijp/7/4/3/index.html ). Even diesel has superated that threshold of 50% energy efficiency that matters in 2020 and coal is clearly in the direction (47%).
It’s also good to have early subcritical nuclear fission treatment of coal to allow elimination through transmutation and fission of the NORMs from the coal. It reduces air pollution and contributes to the energy efficiency as well. CO2 is a fertilizer essential for life and we need more cold CO2 emissions from energy-efficient motors to colden the climate more. Especially if more big volcanic eruptions come.
With the advent of getting desorbtion from shales for production of natural gas, the reserves and production of natural gas are practically infinite.