Coal Me Irresponsible

 

China is building more coal plants, otherwise unable to keep up with their rapidly rising industrial and consumer demand for electrical power through alternative energy sources. This, despite their policy and pledge to reduce their use of coal-powered energy. Like many other countries in this strange time of hyper accelerating fossil fuel costs, coal remains an economically viable and plentiful. While there is no such thing as “clean coal” – effluents are still pumped underground in many of the “cleanest” coal-fired power plants – older facilities are clearly the worst greenhouse offenders. The above coal-fired plant in Heyuan, China is an example. See also my August 5th Demon Coal blog.

 “In China, the worst 5 percent [of coal-fired power plants] accounted for roughly a quarter of the country's total emissions. In the US, the worst 5 percent of plants produced about 75 percent of the power sector's carbon emissions. South Korea had similar numbers, while Australia, Germany, and Japan all saw their worst 5 percent of plants account for roughly 90 percent of the carbon emissions from their power sectors.

“When it comes to carbon emissions, the worst 5 percent of power plants account for 73 percent of the total power sector emissions globally. That 5 percent also produces over 14 times as much carbon pollution as it would if the plants were merely average.” John Timmer writing for the August 14th Wired.com. No one expected such a surge in late pandemic demand for all forms of fossil fuel, from natural gas for heating (and power generation) to gasoline for the explosion of travel. 

Energy costs have also skyrocketed because of supply chain issues, mostly stemming from the lack of sufficient dockworkers and truck drivers, and the sizeable effort required to reignite fossil fuel extraction and refining. Europe alone has seen a tripling of natural gas prices, the mainstay of home heating as a cold fall-winter rolls in. Many fossil fuel companies see these factors as temporary, and hence there has been a decided disincentive for them to invest in new refineries and expensive oil and natural gas drilling. So cheap and abundant coal use picked up much of the slack. Inflation roars. Thus, the world’s cutback in coal-fired power generation turned back around to “worse.” 

“Of the three fossil fuels — coal, oil and natural gas — coal is the biggest climate villain. It’s responsible for about 20% of all greenhouse gas emissions. It’s also a fuel that is relatively easy to replace: Renewable alternatives to coal-fired power have been available for decades. The burning of coal also has other environmental impacts, including air pollution contributing to smog, acid rain and respiratory illnesses…

“China, the world’s most populous country and a manufacturing giant, is by far the world’s biggest coal consumer, followed by India and the United States. In 2019, China produced 4,876 terawatt hours of electricity from coal, almost as much as the rest of the world combined, according to the International Energy Agency. But adjusted for population size the situation is different: Australia has the highest per capita coal emissions among the Group of 20 biggest economies, followed by South Korea, South Africa, the United States and China, according to an analysis by Ember, a climate and energy think tank.

“Why are countries still burning coal?... The short answer is coal is cheap and plentiful. But even as renewables become more competitive on price, coal isn’t that easy to get rid of. Electricity needs are soaring as the world’s population and prosperity increase, and renewables simply aren’t enough to satisfy that growth in demand. The IEA projects that India will need to add a power system the size of the European Union’s to meet expected growth in electricity demand in the next 20 years. Coal’s role in the power sector has remained relatively stable in the last five decades. IEA statistics show that in 1973, coal’s share of global electricity generation was 38%; in 2019 it was 37%.” Associated Press, November 14th.

In the early November COP26 climate change conference, “Government negotiators in Glasgow wrote and rewrote a paragraph that spells out that fighting climate change requires the world to end coal power, along with fossil fuel subsidies. The wording on coal was weakened one last time just before the gavel came down after coal-dependent India insisted on replacing the words ‘phase out’ with ‘phase down.’… Announcements made in the run-up to and during the Glasgow conference mean some 370 more coal plants around the world were given a close-by date, according to the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air. The U.S. has not made such a pledge yet.” AP. But then the power demand surge stalled that progress. 

As climate related natural disasters and searing summer heat rise, we are obviously out of time; delays are no longer tolerable. So… what can we do? The immediate and most implementable initial policies to reduce greenhouse emissions would thus focus on those most toxic of coal plants noted above. Take them offline NOW! Everywhere. They should be shut down no later that the summer of 2022. Alternative energy needs to be ramped up, and as unfortunate as this may be, new nuclear plants are probably unavoidable. Fortunately, the new molten salt reactors are both vastly less dangerous and are more efficient in their use of radioactive fuel (producing less waste). But sitting around and kicking the can down the road will slowly strangle us.

I’m Peter Dekom, and it is little wonder that younger generations, those most saddled with climate change consequences, are raging that our leadership and money-making power houses are doing way too little way too to fix their world.