Today in Energy

By the end of 2020, the number of producing coal mines in the United States fell to 551 mines, the lowest number since U.S. coal production peaked in 2008. In 2020, 40 coal mines were opened or reactivated, and 151 mines were idled or closed. This overall decrease resulted in an 18% annual decline in the total number of producing coal mines from 2019 and a 62% decline since 2008. Shutting down less efficient mines while adding relatively few new mines and reactivating few idled mines resulted in the reduction in 2020.

U.S. production capacity for renewable diesel could increase significantly through 2024, based on several announcements for projects that either are currently under construction or could be in development soon. This growth is driven by higher state and federal targets for renewable fuel, favorable tax credits, and the conversion of existing petroleum refineries into renewable diesel refineries.

In 2020, renewable energy sources (including wind, hydroelectric, solar, biomass, and geothermal energy) generated a record 834 billion kilowatthours (kWh) of electricity, or about 21% of all the electricity generated in the United States. Only natural gas (1,617 billion kWh) produced more electricity than renewables in the United States in 2020. Renewables surpassed both nuclear (790 billion kWh) and coal (774 billion kWh) for the first time on record. This outcome in 2020 was due mostly to significantly less coal use in U.S. electricity generation and steadily increased use of wind and solar.

U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) continued to grow in the first six months of 2021, averaging 9.6 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d). This average marks an increase of 42%, or 2.8 Bcf/d, compared with the same period in 2020 (according to the U.S. Department of Energy's LNG Monthly reports and our estimates for June 2021, based on shipping data from Bloomberg Finance L.P.). During the summer months of 2020, U.S. LNG exports fell to record lows, but they set consecutive record highs in November and December.

In 2020, as the country responded to the COVID-19 pandemic, CO2 emissions from energy consumption in the United States fell to the lowest level since 1983. The 4.6 billion metric tons (Bmt) of CO2 emitted in 2020 was an 11% decrease from 2019, the largest annual decrease on record, according to our Monthly Energy Review. Our new U.S. CO2 emissions from energy consumption by source and sector chart illustrates CO2 emissions by energy source and sector.