The use of natural gas for electric power generation in the U.S. reached a record 42% in 2023, coinciding with significant declines in greenhouse gas emissions and harmful air pollutants, the latest benchmarking report from the Clean Air Task Force (CATF) and Ceres confirms.
The report, which analyzed the top 100 power producers in the country (accounting for ~80% of the sector’s electric generation), found harmful SO2 and NOx air pollutants were 96% and 90% lower in 2023, respectively, compared to 1990’s peak.
And those decline rates are accelerating year-over-year as operators deploy new technologies and forge collaborative partnerships to improve efficiency sector-wide. In the last year alone, SO2 and Nox emissions declined by 24% and 17%, respectively. Between 2022 and 2023, power sector carbon emissions fell nearly 8% as well, according to the report.
These nationwide natural gas-driven decarbonization trends are even stronger in places like Pennsylvania, where natural gas is considered responsible for the “largest year-over-year decline” in carbon emissions tied to the power sector. Since 2005, carbon emissions from Pennsylvania’s electric power sector are down 46%, among the highest reductions of carbon emissions in the nation and surpassing the goals established in the Paris Climate Agreement.
Furthermore, natural gas use has slashed pollutant emissions in Pennsylvania’s power sector. From 2005-2022, SOx emissions have declined by 96% and NOx emissions are down by 88%. The decrease in emissions improves air quality and helps alleviate respiratory ailments. As a result, Pennsylvanians not only benefit from a cleaner environment but also experience a tangible decrease in costs related to medical conditions exacerbated by air pollution.
Using homegrown natural gas, produced and delivered in the safest and most efficient way possible, Pennsylvania leads in both providing the energy fundamental to everyday life and ensuring an energy future that is truly sustainable and reliable.
However, against the backdrop of this progress, CATF and Ceres’ annual report comes as yet another proposal from the Biden Administration burdens power producers with more regulations in the name of tackling climate change. The U.S. electric grid is already facing unprecedented demand tied to electrification mandates, historic premature retirements of baseload energy generation and the data center/AI surge. Market experts, including the regional grid operator PJM Interconnection, warn unfounded emissions standards will result in little more than the early retirement of critical, baseload bearing power facilities such as those running on natural gas.
The premature closure of modern, highly efficient combined cycle gas power plants greatly jeopardizes consumer access to affordable and reliable energy. As PJM noted, “the future demand for electricity cannot be met simply through renewables given their intermittent nature.”
With winter upon us and temperatures dropping, investing in the infrastructure – along with equipment winterization methods – to secure a reliable and resilient natural gas supply is paramount.
Residents in some regions of the U.S. have experienced the cost and reliability shortcomings of a “renewables-only” energy approach firsthand. New England’s largest natural gas-fired power plant was shuttered back in June of this year, heightening concerns about supply availability in the greater Boston area during peak demand periods, not to mention price spikes placing further strain on consumers.
But “natural gas and electricity price spikes in New England in the winter are common” because pipeline constraints limit regional and power plant natural gas deliveries, the U.S. EIA notes. This is an unfortunate reality for those in the northeast convinced the world can function without natural gas.
“Low cost and reliable energy is arguably needed now more than ever,” Marcellus Shale Coalition president Dave Callahan emphasized following EPA’s power plant rules were finalized in the spring.
“America’s natural gas sector is capable and ready to meet these critical demands, but we can only do so if the government prioritizes consumer and economic solutions instead of misguided policies that only please the radical environmental agenda.”
Perhaps if activists and government regulators actually followed the data compiled and reported by environmental-focused research groups, they’d see what the rest of the world sees: natural gas is the quickest and most reliable way to deliver clean, low-cost and always-on power the world wants and desperately needs. And the numbers prove it.
