U.S. natural gas consumption for power generation hit a record high in July, and demand for the energy source is only growing around the world. While natural gas prices in the U.S. are not near European levels, the U.S. benchmark is up by 146 percent over the past 12 months thanks to a hot summer and high exports. Normally, utilities switch to other sources when natural gas prices soar, but there was a lack of coal generation and it seems new renewable capacity isn’t coming online fast enough. Natural gas consumption for power generation in the United States hit a record high in July, spiking at 6.37 million megawatt-hours on July 21, just as legislators were discussing billions in investments in renewables. The reason for that spike was not enough coal generation, according to the Energy Information Administration. It’s interesting to note that the increase in gas-powered electricity generation […]