DESPITE HITS FROM severe new EPA rules, natural gas competition, and a down economy, U.S. coal-fired power output for January 2013 jumped nearly 10 percent over the same month in 2012, according to a report published by Genscape, a company that monitors energy production and use worldwide.
The 9.8 percent increase brought the total coal-fired output to 140,080 gigawatt hours.
The report cited higher energy demands due to cold weather, rising natural gas prices, and reductions in nuclear power output as reasons for the coal-fired energy spike. The January 2013 numbers showed coal-fired power accounting for 40 percent of overall electricity output in the United States, up 2.1 percent over January 2012.
