Renewable electricity beat out coal for the first time in April

By Megan Geuss

Seasonal shifts helped, but long-term changes underlie the record.

nate2b / Flickr

Wind turbines near Palm Springs, California. Enlarge / Wind turbines near Palm Springs, California.

A remarkable thing happened in the US in April. For the first time ever, renewable electricity generation beat out coal-fired electricity generation on a national level, according to the Energy Information Agency (EIA). While renewable energy—including hydro, wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass—constituted 23 percent of the nation's power supply, coal-fired electricity only contributed 20 percent of our power supply.

More at Ars Technica