Because of a new rule the Biden administration put in place, carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants has to be cut by a lot. This could mean the end of the coal-fired power business.
Coal has been the main source of power for the US economy for many years, but renewables and gases are pushing it out of the market. In addition, the Environmental Protection Agency has made rules that all coal plants that don’t shut down by 2039 must cut their carbon emissions by 90% within the next ten years.
These coal-fired power companies don’t plan to close down, but this new rule is being called “probably terminal” for them. Only a “handful of plants” will make it past 2030, according to a researcher from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.
The analyst, Seth Feaster, said, “Not many plants will be able to cut their pollution that much, and even fewer will make it through the energy transition past 2040.” “Those are likely to be few and far between.”
The most harmful and dirty fossil fuel when it comes to warming the world is coal, which is responsible for more than half of the carbon pollution from the power sector. Newer energy sources, like solar and wind power, are becoming more popular, and they are also starting to get a bigger part of the energy market.
The U.S. promises to cut all pollution by 2035. To do this, coal-fired plants will be able to adopt a system that would let them keep running normally while using carbon capture and storage as an alternative that doesn’t release any pollution.
Most of these plants will be over 70 years old by then, so many people think they will just shut down instead of spending a billion dollars to put in new carbon capture and storage technology.
Scientists want to get rid of coal and other fossil fuels so that climate change doesn’t get worse. Countries all over the world have changed their minds about their plans to cut pollution and become better for the environment because of this.
