Falling US consumption of coal, vs rising US exports of coal

[NickB79]

I posted this as a response on another thread, but thought some here might find it interesting as it's own post.

Another DUer pointed out that, according to the EIA, the US has cut 500 billion kwH of coal from it's generation mix since 2007: http://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/monthly/pdf/sec7_5.pdf

Wanting to see how that compared to the widely reported rise in US coal exports over the same time period, I found this EIA report here: http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=11751

It appears, based on that article and eyeballing the graph, that the US has gone from exporting approximately 50 million tons of coal annually in 2007, to 125 million tons annually today, for a net increase of 75 million tons per year.

At 2450 kwh/ton of coal (see http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/energy/question481.htm), that means we've increased coal exports enough to generate an additional 610 billion kwh of electricity (see http://www.convertunits.com/from/kWh/to/tonne+of+coal+equivalent).

The US has recently touted how it's been cutting it's carbon emissions in recent years. However, a large part of that reduction appears to be due to us "offshoring" our pollution to nations still hungry for coal. Our reduction in US coal consumption appears to match up almost perfectly with the increase in US coal exports.

[FBaggins]

1. That doesn't mean that the decline should not be "touted"

It's really two distinct conversations.

For instance...

Who do you blame more for carbon emissons... the US for burning all that oil in our cars, or the Saudis for pumping it out of the ground?

[phantom power]

6. its progress for us, but overall it implies the world is losing the carbon war

[FBaggins]

7. Only to the extent that overall coal consumption climbs.

If we're taking market share away from other producers... that may not be the case.

If, for instance, OPEC disbanded and oil demand fell by 10 million bpd, the Saudis could still hit record exports if their cost of production was low enough compared to the competition.

Of course... if China doesn't get their act together that line of thought is moot.

[OnlinePoker]

8. When was this chart done?

It doesn't show any reduction in the U.S. totals starting about 3 years ago (a drop of about 25% in that period).

[FBaggins]

10. Looks like 2009

Or at least based on 2009 predictions.

[OnlinePoker]

11. Ah, that explains it.

Thanks.

[GliderGuider]

9. A different look at coal - China takes on the world.

I made these charts just now. The data is from BP's Statistical Review 2013, and is current to the end of 2012.

The first compares the world's top 5 coal consumers:



The next tells the story of China's coal consumption compared to the rest of the world,



In 2012 China burned half of all the coal burned in the world.

During the 2008-2009 economic crisis the rest of the world's coal consumption at least glitched. China's didn't.

[pscot]

2. We need the west coast coal ports

so we can get all that Powder River coal to China. Exports will really take off then.

[Agnosticsherbet]

3. It will take the rest of the world time to catch up, but China is cutting its use.

China to cut coal use, shut polluters in a bid to clear the air

China, the US, India, Russia, and Japan are, from what I found, the top users of coal in the world.

[NoOneMan]

5. Great, that will free it up for Africa

[NoOneMan]

4. And the US has replaced it with fracked gas

That's what I call progress