Editorial, April 7 (Kansas City Star)
“…While America’s longstanding love affair with fossil fuels is far from over, America’s more recent embrace of renewable energy is going strong…[Though] wind and solar power are determined to reduce fossil fuel use and to replace it with cleaner-burning renewables…[it] is happening but only to a degree…[and] wind turbines and biofuels [are proving to be much more than] niche products… “U.S. energy production hit an all-time high last year of 79.182 quadrillion BTUs. That number has moved steadily higher over the last five years…[B]etween 2007 and 2012…Natural gas production jumped 25 percent, largely because its cost has plummeted…Coal production slumped about 15 percent to its lowest level in a quarter century…”
click to enlarge“…Coal has been displaced by natural gas at many power plants. The net sum of this trade has been very positive financially...and for air quality…[O]il production grew 28 percent to its highest level since 1995…[W]ind energy production surged 340 percent…[and solar power] production has almost tripled… “…[T]he pro-fossil fuel crowd can point to the fact that coal, natural gas and oil still make up 78 percent of total U.S. power production…But environmentalists can counter that energy production from renewable sources has risen 100 percent over the last 40 years, while fossil fuel production has limped ahead by just 7 percent…It’s encouraging that public investments in renewable power — especially wind energy — have begun to pay off in measurable terms. They deserve to be continued in Washington and the states…”
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