2018 was a record year for US energy in many ways

According to federal data, 2018 was a record year for US energy in many ways. Some of the records the U.S. Energy Information Administration says we hit in 2018 include:

• U.S. net electricity generation: U.S. net electricity generation increased by 4% in 2018, reaching a record high of 4,178 million megawatthours (MWh), and exceeding the previous peak which occurred before the recession in 2007. EIA cites weather -- cold winters and a hot summer -- as the primary driver of this growth.
• U.S. renewable energy generation:  EIA says renewable resources generated 742 million MWh of electricity in 2018, nearly double the amount produced in 2008. Wind and solar provided nearly 90% of the increase in renewable electricity over the past decade, driven primarily by capacity additions.
• U.S. nuclear electricity generation: U.S. nuclear power plants generated 807.1 million MWh of electricity in 2018, surpassing the previous peak of 807.0 million MWh in 2010. This result is due to a combination of added capacity through uprates and shorter refueling and maintenance cycles, and comes despite the closure of several nuclear power plants since 2010. The record level of nuclear generation might not be surpassed soon; with twelve more reactor closings planned through 2025, EIA projects that net electricity generation from U.S. nuclear power reactors will fall by 17% by 2025.
• U.S. natural gas production: U.S. natural gas production grew by 10.0 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2018, an 11% increase over the previous record year of 2017. According to EIA, the growth from 2017 to 2018 was the largest annual increase in production on record.
• U.S. natural gas consumption: U.S. natural gas consumption increased by 10% in 2018, reaching a record high of 82.1 Bcf/d. EIA cites increased domestic consumption of natural gas across all sectors, "led by a 3.8 Bcf/d increase in the electric power sector caused by a combination of recent natural gas-fired electric capacity additions and weather-related factors."
• U.S. natural gas plant liquid production: U.S. production of natural gas plant liquids has increased to an average of 4.3 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2018, up from 2.5 million b/d in 2012. Natural gas plant liquids include ethane, propane, normal butane, isobutane, and natural gasoline. EIA ties the growth in liquid production to the increased production of natural gas itself and the related increase in the use of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing techniques.
• U.S. coal exports reached highest level since 2013: EIA says it expects that U.S. coal exports reached 116 million short tons in 2018, the highest level in five years, based on foreign trade data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau. This is nearly double the level of exports made in 2016. EIA attributes the growth in exports to the fact that "international prices have made it more economic for U.S. producers to sell coal overseas."

Each of these records has implications for the economy and the environment.