Just like the phrases “talk to the hand” and “that’s hot”, Americans are using coal a lot less than they were in the early 2000s.

What happened: Wind and solar combined now generate more power in the US than coal, a significant change in just two decades. The share of coal power in the US electricity mix has been dropping since 2005, falling from a share of ~50% of power generation down to ~15% last year.

There has been some growth in electricity use, so absolute coal use for electricity is down by 40% over that time.

What led to the drop?

• EPA rules: The US Environmental Protection Agency has passed several regulations over the years that have increased environmental oversight. These include the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards enacted under the Obama administration and the National Ambient Air Quality Standards which dates all the way back to the Nixon administration but were tightened under the Obama and Biden administrations. The stricter regulations have increased the cost of operating coal plants making alternatives more attractive.
• Frack, baby, frack: The advent of hydraulic fracturing has unlocked huge natural gas reserves in much of the US, particularly in the Northeast Utica and Marcellus shales, accounting for two-thirds of total marketable US gas production today. The availability of cheap natural gas has been used to replace coal-to-gas switching, often retrofitting existing coal plants to run on gas.
• Wind and solar rise: Coinciding with a drop in technology prices, wind and solar power have both grown tremendously over the past decade. Last year, more than 50 gigawatts of utility-scale wind and solar capacity were added to the US grid.

Together, along with public and investor pressure, regulations and new power sources have significantly replaced coal in the US electricity mix.

Looking ahead: The United States is shifting from a period of low power demand growth to one of considerable growth. While this is unlikely to drive new coal power plants coming online, it could delay retirements or even revive recently shuttered plants.