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Revolution? More like a crawl
Revolution? More like a crawl The energy visionary Vaclav Smil — Bill Gates’s favorite author — says that when our leaders promise quick energy transformations, they’re getting it very wrong. America in 2015 finds itself almost in a new energy reality. It recently became the world’s second–largest extractor of crude oil, and since 2010 has been the leading producer of natural gas, whose abundant and inexpensive […]
The senility of elites: coal mining must continue, no matter what the human costs
The senility of elites: coal mining must continue, no matter what the human costs The coal mine of Bihar, India. Photo by Nitin Kirloskar This post was inspired by a recent article about coal mining in India by David Rose in the Guardian about coal mining. In India, people are dying in the streets because of excessive heat […]
EU May Take Desperate Measures To Ensure Energy Security
EU May Take Desperate Measures To Ensure Energy Security Oft forgotten and on the periphery of the European Union, the Balkans plus Ukraine may have a plan to address the energy needs of the economic bloc. It’s coal-heavy, borderline uneconomic, and arguably counterproductive to respective national agendas, but it does aim to satisfy some particularly […]
Coal Is Doomed Even If It Wins Against EPA In Courts
Coal Is Doomed Even If It Wins Against EPA In Courts The controversy over the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan has become the latest chapter in the chronicle of President Obama’s so-called ‘war on coal’. The plan promises many things, chief among them the health and climate benefits accrued by switching to cleaner burning […]
Environmentalists Win Federal Lawsuit Over Colorado Coal Mines
Environmentalists Win Federal Lawsuit Over Colorado Coal Mines Environmentalists won big May 8 in a lawsuit brought against the federal government over two coal mines near the northern Colorado town of Craig. The nonprofit environmental group WildEarth Guardians sued the U.S. Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM), a bureau within the U.S.Department of the Interior, over permits granted in […]
The Latest Casualty In Energy’s Hardest Hit Industry
The Latest Casualty In Energy’s Hardest Hit Industry Another coal company bites the dust. Again. Patriot Coal, a miner of coal in several Appalachian states, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on May 12. Patriot said it is “in active negotiations for the sale of substantially all of the Company’s operating assets to a strategic partner.” The move […]
How Much Would Zero Emissions Cost?
How Much Would Zero Emissions Cost? In 2014 global carbon emissions totaled 32 gigatonnes (Gt). If you’re counting, that’s roughly 32 Gt too many. Yes, zero, near-zero, or net-zero is what we want, and soon is when we need it. Failure to achieve such goals by the end of the century will irreparably damage our planet and […]
How Much Water Does The Energy Sector Use?
How Much Water Does The Energy Sector Use? Water and energy have a symbiotic relationship. Energy is needed to move water to people and businesses. Water, in turn, is necessary to produce energy. Of course, different types of energy require varying levels of water use. Take electricity generation as an example. For the United States, electricity […]
Dramatic UK Emission Drop Just a ‘Taste of What Could Be Achieved
Dramatic UK Emission Drop Just a ‘Taste of What Could Be Achieved UK greenhouse gas emissions fell by 8.4 percent between 2013 and 2014, according to official figures released today by the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC). Carbon emissions fell by 9.7 percent. A 23 percent reduction in coal use and record warm temperatures were the main […]
A “Wave of Bankruptcies” About To Hit Coal Industry
A “Wave of Bankruptcies” About To Hit Coal Industry The future for the coal industry is looking “increasingly bleak,” according to an investor’s note from Macquarie Research. The analysis firm also said that “a wave of bankruptcies” appear to be just over the horizon as coal mining companies deal with mounting debt and a shrinking market. […]
The Global Coal Boom Is Going Bust: Report
The Global Coal Boom Is Going Bust: Report A new report by CoalSwarm and the Sierra Club provides compelling evidence that the death knell for the global coal boom might very well have rung some time between 2010 and 2012. Based on data CoalSwarm compiled of every coal plant proposed worldwide for the past five years as […]
Is China Exporting Its Pollution?
Is China Exporting Its Pollution? China is in the midst of a historic transformation, and the surprising progress the country has made at energy efficiency has raised hopes that the world may get a grip on global greenhouse gas emissions much sooner than expected. As a result of the progress China is making in cleaning […]
Tomgram: Michael Klare, Is Big Oil Finally Entering a Climate Change World?
Tomgram: Michael Klare, Is Big Oil Finally Entering a Climate Change World? Welcome to the asylum! I’m talking, of course, about this country, or rather the world Big Oil spent big bucks creating.You know, the one in which the obvious — climate change — is doubted and denied, and in which the new Republican Congress is actively […]
Christophe McGlade on who gets left with the unburnable carbon
Christophe McGlade on who gets left with the unburnable carbon Christophe McGlade is a research associate in energy materials modelling at the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources. He recently co-authored, with Paul Ekins, a paper called “The geographical distribution of fossil fuels unused when limiting global warming to 2°C”, a paper whose stark call to leave the […]
Commodities crash: Bad news for the world economy, but is anyone listening?
Commodities crash: Bad news for the world economy, but is anyone listening? Reading the general run of financial headlines might lead one to believe that price declines in those commodities which are highly sensitive to economic conditions such as iron ore, copper, oil, natural gas, coal, and lumber are good on their face. Obviously, the declines aren’t good for those who sell these commodities. […]
