Electricity

Fossil-fuel consumption subsidies are down, but not out – IEA

Phasing out subsidies means a better allocation of resources across the energy system By Toshiyuki Shirai and Zakia Adam, International Energy Agency Getting energy prices right is critical for sound policymaking. But because of government energy subsidies prices that consumers pay in many countries are often well below their real market value, let alone the price that would

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US utility solar power generation dominated by crystalline silicon panels

70% of U.S. utility-scale solar PV capacity used crystalline silicon modules rather than thin-film Most of the growing number of installations of utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) operating capacity across the United States have been systems that make use of crystalline silicon panels, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. In 2016, 70 per cent of

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‘Refined’ coal accounts for 20% of US coal-fired power generation so far in 2017

Refined coal was encouraged through tax credits in American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 The U.S. power sector consumption of coal is increasingly shifting to refined coal, even as coal-fired electricity generation decreases, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Refined coal has been processed to remove certain pollutants from raw, or feedstock, coal. Electricity

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Natural gas power generation share grew for decade in Southern states as coal declined

 Texas and Oklahoma in region with some of country’s best wind resources Coal’s share of total electricity generation in the South declined over the past decade, from 50 per cent in 2006 to 29 per cent in 2016, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.As the use of coal has declined, the use of natural gas

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United States, Canada, and Mexico launch North American Energy information website

Canada is largest source of US natural gas and oil imports At the North American Energy Ministerial on Nov. 14 in Houston, Texas, United States Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources James Carr, and Mexico’s Secretary of Energy Pedro Joaquin Coldwell launched the North American Cooperation on Energy Information (NACEI) website, according

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Wind turbine heights and capacities have increased over past decade

 Five states combined produced 55% of total U.S. wind electricity generation in 2016 Wind turbines in the United States have grown in both average heights and capacity over the past decade, according to data on utility-scale electricity generators collected by EIA. Wind turbine capacity is based largely on the length of the blades, and taller turbines are

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Biomass and waste fuels made up 2% of total US electricity generation in 2016

Biomass gas-generating plants typically operate at high utilization rates Biomass and waste fuels generated 71.4 billion kilowatthours of electricity in 2016, or 2 per cent of total generation in the United States, according to EIA’s recently released annual electric power data. Biomass fuels are defined as all non-fossil, carbon-based (biogenic) energy sources. Waste fuels are defined

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