CPS cuts its CO2, despite its coal burning
Carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. fell in 2019 thanks largely to the phase-out of coal as a source of electricity, the Energy Information Administration reported.
And while CPS Energy also saw a sizable reduction in carbon dioxide emissions between 2018 and 2019, the utility’s coal plant remains one of the larger CO2 polluters in Texas, according to the EIA, anarmofu.s. Energy Department.
Carbon dioxide is the primary greenhouse gas emitted by human activities. Its presence in the atmosphere has risen sharply over the last three centuries, contributing to higher temperatures, which affect sea levels, the severity of storms and precipitation patterns.
CO2 emissions nationwide fell by150million metric tons last year compared to 2018, a 3 percent drop. Most of those emissions came from transportation — cars, trucks, airlines, railroads. But electricity generation was the second largest emitter of carbon dioxide in 2019.
Emissions are up slightly compared with 1990, but that’s largely due to population growth over that time.
Across Texas, the amount of coal burned to produce electricity has fallen significantly in recent years. Through the first 10 months of this year, about 17.5 percent of the state’s electricity has been generated from coal, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.
Five years ago, 28 percent of the state’s power came from coal.
“You want to reduce CO2 emissions, and the easiest thing to do is to get rid of coal,” said Carey King, assistant director of the Energy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin. “It’s the lowest hanging fruit.”
So far this year, Texas has generated nearly twice as much electricity from nuclear, solar and wind as it has from coal.
Through the first 10 months of the year, Texas has produced more power from wind and solar than in any previous year.
CPS Energy emitted 12.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide last year, down from17.7 million metric tons in 2018, according to the city-owned utility.
CPS officials said the utility has become more efficient, and that the amount of pollution emitted per unit of power generated has decreased.
CO2 emissions in San Antonio remained steady even as CPS quadrupled the amount of power it generated between 1980 and 2019.
The utility attributed that to its increasing use of renewable energy sources, and the closure of its J.T. Deely coal plant.
CPS expects to reduce its CO2 emissions by 80 percent by 2040. By 2050, officials hope to be carbon neutral.
“Although there is no sin
gle solution to reaching netzero carbon emissions by 2050, we strive to meet our goals with thoughtful implementation of a range of low to non-emitting technologies,” CPS officials said in a statement.
The effort will likely include more renewables, improved power storage tech
nology, conservation efforts and, over time, new — and as yet unforeseen — energy sources.
CPS Energy currently operates the two-unit Spruce coal plant, which last year emitted 6.5 million metric tons of CO2. That made it the sixth-highest emitting power plant in Texas, ac
cording to the EIA.
The average household in San Antonio consumes about one megawatt hour of electricity each month. For every megawatt hour of power produced by the Spruce plant last year, it emitted over a ton a carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
That’s about 43 percent more emissions per megawatt hour produced than the average power plant in Texas, according to EIA data.
“Austin will be off of fossil fuels by 2032, and we still have CPS vigorously defending its Spruce coal plants, which are huge emitters,” said Terry Burns, president of the Alamo chapter of the Sierra Club.
“They really don’t seem to be interested in public dialogue about how to shut (the Spruce units) downin a cost-effective, timely, environmentally-conscious way,” Burns said.
King, the Ut-austin energy researcher, said that electricity generated from natural gas — as well as solar and wind— will increasingly replace coal in the coming years. He noted, however, that greater use of natural gas could translate to higher methane emissions.
“As much as coal goes down, expect CO2 emissions to go down,” King said. “Coal is less competitive as gas prices stay low. I would expect (coal plants) to keep retiring, and have other sources fill in.”