coal

According to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), electricity generation from renewable sources surpassed coal and nuclear in the U.S. for the first time last year. The increase in renewables was driven primarily by solar and wind, which made up 14 percent of the country’s electricity in 2022, reported The Associated Press. Six […]

Quick Key Facts What Are Fossil Fuels? Fossil fuels are fuels that literally come from fossils. Tens of millions of years ago, plants took energy from the sun and used it to turn carbon dioxide and water into carbon and hydrogen via photosynthesis. Animals ate those plants and stored the same elements in their bodies. […]

Two aging UK coal plants will close at the end of the winter despite requests by the government to keep them running.  The plants were originally scheduled to shutter in 2022, but the government asked them to remain on standby through the winter of 2022 and 2023 to pick up the slack during the ongoing […]

When wastewater from coal-fired plants is released into wider waterways, it can have serious consequences. Environmental toxins including mercury, arsenic, bromide and chloride can pollute drinking water and aquatic habitats, causing cancer and other ailments in humans and making it harder for wildlife to reproduce. That’s why the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) moved on […]

Throughout the winter, the UK’s aging coal-fired plants have been on standby in case extra juice is needed in the midst of the ongoing energy crisis.

A new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) says energy-related carbon dioxide emissions around the world reached a record high last year due to the increased use of fossil fuels like oil and coal, but the impact was offset by an increase in green technology. With the expansion of solar, wind, electric vehicles (EVs) […]

Despite warnings from scientists that the world must rapidly cut coal use in order to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis, China approved more new coal plants in 2022 than at any point in the last seven years. That’s the conclusion of […]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reaffirmed the legal, scientific and economic bases of the 2012 Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) that require coal– and oil-fired power plants to implement “significant reductions” in emissions of mercury, acid gases and other toxic pollutants, a press release from the EPA said. The decision reverses the […]