The Biden administration’s new climate rule says that coal-fired power plants must cut their carbon pollution by a lot. This could mean the end of the coal-fired power business.
For years, coal has been the main source of power in the United States, but renewables and gases are pushing it out of the market. Besides that, 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.
People are saying that this new rule is “probably terminal” for these coal-fired power plants that don’t want to shut down. The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis said that between now and 2030, only a “handful of plants” will be still running.
He 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.” “I think you’ll be able to count them on one hand.”
More than half of the carbon pollution from the power industry comes from coal, making it the dirtiest and most harmful fossil fuel when it comes to warming the planet. As newer energy sources like solar and wind power gain popularity, they also start to get a bigger part of the energy market.
The US has promised to cut all of its 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 damage the environment.
Many people think that by then, many of these plants will be over 70 years old, so they will probably just shut down instead of spending a billion dollars to get new technology for capturing and storing carbon.
Scientists have pushed the idea of getting rid of coal and other fossil fuels so that climate change doesn’t get worse. This has made people all over the world think more deeply about their plans to cut pollution and make their countries more eco-friendly.