Americans used more natural gas, solar panels and wind
turbines and less coal to generate electricity in 2012, according to the most
recent U.S. energy charts released by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Each year, the Laboratory releases energy flow charts that
track the nation's consumption of energy resources.
Natural gas use is up particularly in the electricity
generation sector, where it has basically substituted directly for coal, while
sustained low natural gas prices have prompted a shift from coal to gas in the
electricity generating sector, according to A.J. Simon, an LLNL energy systems
analyst.