From Dr. Benny Peiser at The GWPF
Coal has been displacing gas generation in Europe since 2009 and the International Energy Agency expects this trend to continue, Ms Anne Sophie Corbeau, senior gas analyst for the International Energy Agency said that “We will have a Golden Age of Coal in Europe, at least over the next 5 years.” —CoalGuru, 11 October 2012
Europe is seeing a ‘golden age of coal’ thanks to cheap U.S. exports, said a senior gas analyst at the International Energy Agency (IEA), an advisory body which last year proclaimed the world was heading for a ‘golden age of gas.’ Anne-Sophie Corbeau, senior gas analyst at the IEA, said gas was losing the battle in Europe’s power plants against cheap coal coming from the U.S., where the discovery of shale gas has left huge oversupply in unwanted coal. —Reuters, 5 October 2012
In Europe no golden age of gas will come. Europe is an exception to the shale revolution. We may be talking of a golden age of coal in Europe and this is (in) contrast with what is happening in the U.S. –Anne-Sophie Corbeau, Reuters, 5 October 2012
In one for future textbook definitions of unintended consequences, the example of increased coal use in Europe provides a spectacular own goal for green shale gas opponents. –Nick Grealy, No Hot Air, 11 October 2012
The real push to expand coal is coming from Europe and Asia, greenhouse gas emissions be damned. Aldyen Donnely, president of WDA Consulting Inc. in Vancouver, says there is no way the big coal powers are going to get out of coal, not even the United States, which holds 27.6% of the world’s proven coal reserves. Russia holds 18.2% and China 13.3%. “Those nations will keep coal in their core energy mixes as a national security consideration, if nothing else.” The conclusion is this on coal: Far from coming to an end or a peak, global coalification seems to be well underway. –Terence Corcoran, Financial Post, 11 October 2012
Environmental campaigners and green policy-makers are blocking shale developments in most European countries. As a result, Europe has failed to join the shale revolution that has swept the US. Instead of benefiting from cheap shale gas, lower CO2 emissions, new industries and hundreds of thousands of new jobs, Europe is constraining itself with self-imposed green limits to growth. As gas is displacing coal for electricity generation in the US, the shale revolution has led to a dramatic reduction in CO2 emissions – down to 1992 levels. In order to replicate the US energy revolution, Europe would need to exit coal and switch to natural gas. Yet the green lobby’s shale gas blockade together with its opposition to nuclear energy is causing the exact opposite: it has led to a renaissance of coal. — Benny Peiser, Public Service Europe, 29 August 2012
State-run Coal India Limited (CIL) Thursday expressed confidence that it would be able to raise production by another 180 million tonnes during the 12th five year plan. This will lead to an increase in the CIL’s production to 615 million tonnes by financial year 2016-17, compared with 435.84 million tonnes in 2011-12. —NewsTracker India, 11 October 2012
German citizens will be paying a total of more than €20 billion ($25.7 billion) next year to promote renewable energy. This is more than €175 for an average three-person household, a 50 percent increase over current figures. The development is an embarrassment to Germany’s coalition government. —Spiegel Online, 10 October 2012
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My gas and electricity bills (UK. British Gas) will rise by 8% almost immediately. This is just a start. My wages will rise by 0.2% next April – by which time there will be another energy cost rise.
I have 3 children under 8 years old. They will grow up in a cold world. Poor.
Politicians fail to think about what happens when people get desperate.
When Germans got desperate in the 1930s, they elected Adolf Hitler. Many other nations have done similar things in the past.
If half the British population can’t afford to heat their homes one cold winter because of high energy taxes, or restrictive energy policies, you can bet that they’ll be willing to elect anyone who promises to repeal these policies.
And, if none of the conventional, “mainstream” parties will do that, they’ll elect someone completely different. We can only hope that such newcomers govern wisely.
So much depends on what happens on Nov. 6. If there is a change in the administration there will be a refocusing on low cost energy.If this happens coal , oil and gas will be given a major boost. The effect of this will be dramatic and very visible. Visible enough for even the European population to notice and demand the removal of the green policies. The Europeans think they are so civilized, and Americans so….so… well … it will irk them to no end that the U.S.A. has turned the corner simply by ignoring the green agenda and focusing on the production of cheap energy.If the Demoncrats win the Presidency, all the above is mute.
The future belongs to Thorium reactors but the present belongs to gas, oil, and coal.
I’ve been reading about those heavy coal freight trains over there in the USA. It takes some 4 locomotives to haul 20,000 tons of coal. Given that 1 coal wagon takes 4 times as much coal as a road truck, that hugely efficient transportation. Imagine a thousand truck road convoy. Incidentally, i’ve noticed that freight trains are getting much longer in the UK
Asia’s coal giant is not India but China. India’s CO2 output is less than a quarter of China’s.
This article lays the emphasis on the wrong nation, sloppy!
We gotta lot of coal in Oz. Also lots in Indonesia. Of course your experts know there are two main types, coking, for steel making (most valuable) and thermal, mainly for power generation. Prices are coming down here, to the extent that some marginal mines are closing. We export heaps to Japan, China and India. Cheers from freezing Sydney.
Standard of living is directly related to energy ROI – the excess energy beyond what is required to produce it (drilling, mining, distribution, etc.) provides our standard of living as well as the opportunity to invest in making us more efficient at using what we have and move on to the next big thing. Solar and wind and one-way tickets to a significantly lowered standard of living due to the low (or even negative) eROI. The next step forward (assuming we want to go forward) is clearly nuclear because the potential eROI is so high (assuming we can get the parasites to back off).
(Keynesian economics is the economic equivalent of a perpetual motion machine. Spending levels are an indicator of economic health, not a cause. Energy is the key.)
Solar and wind “are” one-way tickets to poverty.
We have one functioning 1/2 FT plant in the USA, and it is the most difficult part. The gasifier. CVR Energy has a gasifier in operation using petroleum coke (very similar to coal) to make CO. An FT plant would take this stream plus hydrogen, and go to liquid fuels. At CVR they take the CO through a shift reactor and make hydrogen. The hydrogen then combines with nitrogen and they make ammonia, then other nitrogen fertilizers (UAN). Their raw material is basically free. The Air Force was going to do the same thing with coal, but go to liquid fuels via FT after the gasifier (including the shift reactor for the H2). However, the Greens shut it down since they don’t want an outlet for coal. You can also do it with natural gas, by the way. FT is very doable.
Zeke, “May I ask the US voter to consider how “leveling the playing field” and “attracting investors” into renewable energy would play out for us.”
Disastrous, especially with fiscal cliff looming, no doubt about it.
Can I ask you a question, though? Will replacing Ben Bernanke (as Romney has vowed to do) instill confidence in investment into much of anything? Even just cleaner nat gas, which has been pulling far more investment funds than renewable lately. It appears that realization might be hitting home, markets are turning bearish.
P Wilson says:
October 11, 2012 at 4:43 pm
I’ve been reading about those heavy coal freight trains over there in the USA. It takes some 4 locomotives to haul 20,000 tons of coal. Given that 1 coal wagon takes 4 times as much coal as a road truck, that hugely efficient transportation. Imagine a thousand truck road convoy. Incidentally, i’ve noticed that freight trains are getting much longer in the UK
=========
You ain’t seen nuthin, we have river barges and lake freighters 🙂
Here is a man that loves his “job”:
http://duluthshippingnews.com/
Surely the UK will have to tell the EU to go jump some time soon.
It does appear that the now effectively German run EU is making the UK pay for past successes
Here’s a relevant Oct. 7 article:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/909371-u-s-coal-exports-to-europe-at-record-highs
“U.S. coal exports to Europe increased by 29% YoY in the first quarter of 2012, as power companies in the continent switch from natural gas to coal for power generation. Power generating companies in Europe are taking advantage of the lower prices of coal and the fall in carbon emission fees. Natural gas prices are currently at high levels in Europe because they are associated with oil prices. U.S. coal exports have been increasing. Total U.S. exports stood at 28.6MMST in the first quarter of 2012. Almost half of U.S. coal exports are to Europe.”
The folly of green energy only seems practical because it is highly subsidized by fossil fuels at the moment. The impact of peak oil has only begun to ripple through the economy. Taxing and restricting carbon does not produce any energy return. Mostly all the schemes so far are just shell games where carbon not burned in Europe just causes more carbon to be burned in China. All the global warming propaganda has not decreased global carbon releases at all. The trivial amount of money saved by CFLs doesn’t come close to paying for the gasoline prices caused by hitting oil production limits. Causing energy prices to go up means we are losing not winning. The same with ethanol mandates. Ethanol only looks credible as an auto fuel because of the huge amount of fossil fuels burned to produce the ethanol. Actually it’s just converting NG to a liquid fuel and destroying the food supply at the same time. Rather than mitigating the adverse effects of energy supply constraints most government intervention can be traced back to a scheme to benefit the politically connected at the expense of everybody else.
There is plenty of coal available so use it. Scrub out the SO2, and make wall board with the residue, the rest will help crops grow larger. Provided the idioticly costly CCS is ignored there is a cost benefit for us over charged consumers.
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P Wilson says:
October 11, 2012 at 4:43 pm
I’ve been reading about those heavy coal freight trains over there in the USA. It takes some 4 locomotives to haul 20,000 tons of coal. Given that 1 coal wagon takes 4 times as much coal as a road truck, that hugely efficient transportation. Imagine a thousand truck road convoy. Incidentally, i’ve noticed that freight trains are getting much longer in the UK.
****
Where I worked, N&S trains typically had 2 Dash locos (that burn cheap bunker oil instead of diesel) @ur momisugly 4400 HP each, 100-120 coal cars (over a mile long) w/120 ton loads each. So ~12000 – 14000 tons each train. They were heading east for export at the Norfolk, VA seaport.
http://www.krunk.org/ns-nrv/glenlyn/
Even heavier trains are run on more level routes. By far the most efficient form of bulk-material land transport.
We don’t need US coal in the UK, we have our own trash to burn!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/georgeosborne/9604112/Ed-Davey-approves-giant-incinerator-in-foe-George-Osbornes-constituency.html
The ongoing and largely successful effort to demonize coal in the U.S. is ample proof of the power of the media on the one hand, and the incompetence of our leaders – if that’s what it is – on the other.
Coal is relatively inexpensive, and it is abundant. Only morons or evil men would seek to prohibit use of our cheapest, most cost-effective fuel. Unfortunately, due to the power of the boob tube and other mass media, It’s been easy for them to recruit a vast army of Malthusian ideologues, misguided zealots, and other self-righteous green reactionaries who assume a badge of moral superiority in their deluded quest to save the world.
It was coal that fired the industrial revolution, and it is coal they now wish to take from us in order to effect industrial devolution, at least in the previously prosperous, industrious, and industrialized West. Meanwhile, in Asia, they burn all the coal they need, but that’s OK because China was “the Sick Man of Asia” for all those decades, and well, I guess what goes around, comes around.
It might get cut off at the pass. Much further along is the demo micro-fusion project at LPPhysics.com . Private, but with even shoestring funding ( <$2 million ) it could/should show break-even this year and be off to the races. It is projected to begin supplying power within about 4-5 yrs at less than 1/10 current best capital and output costs (around 6¢/W to build, 0.3¢/kWh). Totally “clean” and waste-free.
EU is doing so many economically irrational things at once it’s hard to keep track of them! And, of course, introducing the datum that CO2 is beneficial and its output should be encouraged, or at the very least ignored, would really put the cat amongst the pigeons!
Canada is blessed. Schadenfreude to the east of us, schadenfreude to the south of us …
Just don’t crash the whole world’s economy, ‘Kay?
The political beast feeds rarely.
British species of politician require feeding only once every five years,fighting for and consuming as many votes as they can.
Power blackouts in the seventies saw off governments in short order.Margaret Thatchers government survived the miners strikes in the eighties only because of massive stockpiling of coal.
I`m not too worried.
When the lights start going out,or more importantly business and consumers simply can`t afford to switch them on we`ll vote them out,and vote in ANY party that delivers plentiful and affordable power.(Goodbye Tories, Goodbye Labour, Goodbye LibDems, Goodbye greens.)
If government continues to exhibit its obsessive compulsive attitude towards co2 emissions,
we are going live in politically `interesting times` indeed.
I must check out UKIPs energy policies