This spending is discretionary, the authors note, because utilities can just switch to gas instead.
FORBES: Frack Gas Not Likely To Displace King Coal, Study Suggests
Because coal power is cheaper than natural gas power, the switch will jack up your utility bills.
As it fell, the utility would need to switch to more gas and retire coal.
Krasinski made the switch because natural gas development is more topical, and more visceral, than wind development.
Perhaps it could also switch to producing gas instead of oil.
Electric utilities that can switch to natural gas are switching.
FORBES: Invest In American Manufacturing? Five Charts For Your Business Decision
However, these figures are somewhat distorted by a drop in coal shipments, which contributed 44% of total rail shipments last year, as coal demand has been impacted by a switch to natural gas for electric power generation.
American Electric Power agreed late Friday in federal court in Columbus, Ohio, to retire or switch to natural gas two coal-burning units at the Muskingum River power plant in Ohio and the Tanners Creek power plant in Indiana by the end of 2015.
Not according to a new econometric study that concludes no more than 20% of existing coal generation is likely to switch over to gas, even if the Environmental Protection Agency drives up the cost of coal generation and gas prices stay at their current, low rates indefinitely.
FORBES: Frack Gas Not Likely To Displace King Coal, Study Suggests
However, in order to meet European Union greenhouse gas emission standards, Poland is planning to switch a substantial part of its electricity production from coal to natural gas.
The problem, as the government sees it, is that Britain's fast-fading coal industry is rapidly losing its biggest customers, as electricity generators switch from coal to gas.
The Israeli government said this afternoon that it did not expect any interruption of electricity supplies as the country has gas in storage and can also switch to other fuels like oil and diesel.
The idea is that Americans could switch en masse to natural gas vehicles, and the country could stop importing so much oil.
The trucking industry is starting the switch, with compressed natural gas being used in local delivery trucks and liquefied natural gas in over-the-road trucks, trains and barges.
FORBES: Invest In American Manufacturing? Five Charts For Your Business Decision
Much of the avoided energy consumption will come from the switch to carbon-neutral district heating (rural households will switch from oil, natural gas, and electric heating to heat pumps and biomass burners).
FORBES: Project Zero: A Roadmap For Local Energy Security And Carbon Neutrality In Southern Denmark
While other factors, including a sluggish U.S. economy and increasing energy efficiency, have contributed to the decline in carbon emissions from factories, automobiles and power plants, many experts believe the switch from coal to natural gas for electricity generation has been the biggest factor.
WSJ: Rise in U.S. Gas Production Fuels Unexpected Plunge in Emissions
Beyond mere price, there are substantial environmental benefits in a switch from crude oil to natural gas.
Similarly, when Margaret Thatcher broke the British coal miners' unions in 1985, Britain was able to switch to cleaner-burning natural gas.
Their streets and subway cars are aging, and the obvious source of funding for transportation repairs, the gas tax, is drying up as drivers switch to hybrids and high-mileage cars.
There are about 14 million vehicles on the road worldwide that can run on natural gas most of them are bi-fuel, they can run on natural gas or petroleum at the flip of a switch.
FORBES: Maine Wind Project Wins $102 Million U.S. Loan Guarantee
Your car can now run on either gasoline, or CNG(compressed natural gas, methane) at the flip of a switch.
FORBES: Gassing Up: Why America's Future Job Growth Lies In Traditional Energy Industries
If they were smart, they would switch over their car fleet to natural gas, and import it from nearby Qatar.
FORBES: Saudi's Have Reduced Production, But Don't Believe It's Because of Reduced Demand
Geoff Sundstrom, who tracks gas supplies for Triple-A, says the switch is hitting the mid-Atlantic states right now, from Richmond to Philadelphia.
Higher prices are needed to induce consumers and businesses to use less energy (the source of most greenhouse gases) and switch to fuels (from coal to natural gas) that have lower emissions.
And so, even though, in anticipation of the gas price is going up this summer, some people might switch to flying or going on a cruise for vacation.
Standard Chartered economist Stephen Green thought concerns over the electricity data were serious enough to warrant a switch to a new proxy for growth demand for gas and diesel.
WSJ: Some Economists Say China's Growth Has Slowed More than Data Suggest
In September of last year, a massive explosion at a Pemex natural-gas plant near the northern border city of Reynosa killed 30 workers and caused critical shortages of the fuel, causing the state-run electricity company Comision Federal de Electricidad to switch to more expensive fuels in order to free up some natural gas for industry.
Enterprises are being pressed to change over from coal to cleaner-burning natural gas and methane, and to be more energy-efficient by modernizing their plant equipment in the switch.
Other studies support total switch in electricity fuel of no more than 10% for a permanent, 50% decline in gas prices.
FORBES: Frack Gas Not Likely To Displace King Coal, Study Suggests
Ruffalo, an Academy Award-nominated actor, made the switch to solar last year on his property in New York's Catskill Mountains, also near gas reserves.
应用推荐