Fracking in North America could be partly to blame for methane spike – study
Fracking is the primary reason a bunch of *nuclear power plants in the USA are shutting down early. The over-supply of gas from fracking, plus the inherent simplicity and efficiency of gas turbines makes them crazy hard to compete with. The carbon-free nuclear plants weren&#x27;t overly expensive to operate, but when the electricity revenue dropped (especially in deregulated markets), they started struggling mightily.<p>Nukes produce 60% of the carbon-free energy in the USA. As they shut down, they&#x27;re often replaced with natural gas, which locks in carbon emissions and indirect emissions from pipelines and the wellheads.<p>It&#x27;s on the nuclear people to figure out how to get operating costs safely down. But boy howdy it&#x27;d be nice if their carbon-free nature could be valued higher, or if fracking could be made more expensive.<p>This is also a big part of why coal is struggling, but this doesn&#x27;t bother me because coal is high carbon and high in killer air pollution (especially outside the US. Air pollution kills 4 million people&#x2F;year globally [1]).<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.who.int&#x2F;airpollution&#x2F;en&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.who.int&#x2F;airpollution&#x2F;en&#x2F;</a>