USA • Air quality rules EPRI has completed a two-year study on the implications for US energy of the current policy for increasingly tough air emission reduction targets.
The study has indicated that future restrictions on emissions of CO2, NOx and SOx will lead to significant shifts in primary fuel resources. By 2020, the study suggests, the current policy would see the decline of coal-fired generation from more than 50 per cent of total capacity to less than 10 per cent. This trend would be matched by a consequent increase in the use of natural gas. According to EPRI, gas use would increase from its current level of 15 per cent to close to 60 per cent.
However, forcing many coal-fired plants into disuse would leave significant stranded investments, including recent work on the installation of emission control equipment. Furthermore, to replace the capacity thus abandoned a national US investment of $160 billion would be required.
