I noted this juxtaposing today, and thought I would share it. First this story from Reuters today:
EU capped emissions fall below expectations
* Carbon prices drop to record low
* Power sector down 3.1 pct, others off by 0.5 pct
* Germany emissions down 1.2 pct; UK off 7.2 pct (Releads with record low carbon price, adds UBS analyst quote)
By Jeff Coelho
LONDON, April 2 (Reuters) – Carbon prices plunged to record lows on Monday after data showing emissions in the European Union’s main scheme to fight greenhouse gases dropped below expectations last year.
Carbon dioxide emissions in the EU’s emissions trading scheme (ETS) fell by 2.4 percent in 2011 from 2010, prompting carbon prices to fall by more than 11 percent to well below 7 euros a tonne.
While the preliminary data published by the European Commission on Monday suggests the bloc is on track to achieve its 2020 climate target, it also confirms a fall in power production due to weak industrial output and a slowing economy.
Many analysts had expected a slight rise in emissions for the year.
“The fall was mainly attributable to lower power generation and stagnating industrial production,” Matteo Mazzoni, an analyst at Nomisma Energia, told Reuters.
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/02/eu-emissions-idUSL6E8F22GT20120402
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Now this one from WSJ:
China Uses Nearly as Much Coal as Rest of World Combined, EIA Says
By CASSANDRA SWEET
China’s use of coal has grown quickly over the last decade and now rivals the amount of coal consumed by the rest of the world combined, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said Tuesday.
China consumed 3.8 billion short tons, or 3.45 billion metric tons, of coal in 2011, nearly half the world’s total consumption, the EIA said, citing international data.
A short ton, a measurement used in the U.S., is equal to 0.9 metric ton, a measurement used in most other countries.
Electricity generation in China has grown more than threefold since 2000, driving ever greater demand for coal, the EIA said.
China was also the world’s largest coal producer in 2011, producing more than 3.5 billion metric tons, or nearly 46% of global coal production that year, according to data published by the International Energy Agency. China was also the world’s largest net importer of coal in 2011, importing about 177 million metric tons of coal, according to the IEA.
The U.S. produced a little more than one billion metric tons of coal in 2011, or nearly 13% of the world supply, according to the IEA.
Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323829504578272233059490240.html
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So on one hand, we have draconian regulations that are stagnating the economies of the countries in the EU, while at the same time, China is thumbing their nose at the idea and going at coal like pigs in a buffet line.
Nothing the western world does is going to make one bit of difference in the scheme of things, except to cripple their own economies while China laughs.
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Lower CO2 emissions are almost never a good thing. They reflect either lower or more expensive energy generation. Or, as in EU’s case, both.
Stupidity is the only capital crime in Nature.
They have countries in Europe with massive unemployment. Especially among young people where in some countries it’s as high as 50%. They need to be worried about that.
In 2011 China’s per capita consumption was 7.2 tonnes and increasing at the rate of 9% per annum. Europe’s consumption was 7.5 tonnes and reducing at the rate of 3% per annum. That implies that China’s per capita consumption is by now well ahead of Europe.
Europe is among the leaders, if not the world leader in promoting regulation to restrict carbon dioxide production in the western world, yet it’s environmental apologists make allowances for developing countries to continue their expansion without restriction.
This per capita increase coupled with the massive increase and domination of China’s “dirty” coal usage, which by now in 2013 is probably around 50% of world consumption, makes an absolute mockery of the European Unions stance. Surely, our regulators should now be saying that unless China complies with the same stringent rules, then we in Europe should not be destroying our economies by faithfully following and exceeding Kyoto requirements. What blind idiots we have to lead us.
“TomRude says:
January 29, 2013 at 10:20 pm
Marc says:
January 29, 2013 at 9:27 pm
China’s per capita CO2 emissions are well below the U.S. and a little below the E.U.’s
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/jrc/index.cfm?id=1410&dt_code=NWS&obj_id=15150&ori=RSS
REPLY: Per capita isn’t the issue, gross volume is. – Anthony.
===
Well Anthony, Per Capita is the only issue… that concerns the eco-egalitarians when it comes to finding a scheme for individual wealth redistribution and guilt spewing justification of their totalitarism. Per Capita is a political tool, and a dangerous one.”
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Both gross volume and per capita matter. Any program to reduce gross emissions will need to take per capita, historical and per GDP measures into account. But I am very glad to see Anthony acknowledge the importance of CO2 emissions! 😉
Well done China.
I’m never fond of press releases regurgitating old data. The US EIA is talking about 2011 data.
In 2012 the amount of coal China used for electricity production was less then 1% different then 2011. I.E. Almost flat.
China led the world in Wind and Hydro production in 2012 not necessarily because they are ‘good environmental stewards’ but because wind,hydro and nulcear are al cheaper then burning coal in China..
How much coal they consumed for steel and cement production is another story however.
Reblogged this on gottadobetterthanthis and commented:
One could be cynical regarding China’s actions regarding coal, but that probably doesn’t matter to them. While they probably snicker at notions like the President’s about making coal use in the US too expensive (bankrupting all who try to use it), China is simply interested in providing power for its people. China is hellbent on producing more power. Consider the Three Gorges Dam and what was sacrificed to build it. China simply realizes that to be prosperous and to provide good lives for its citizens, it must provide more power, especially electricity.
CO2 emissions aren’t air pollution. China has failed to install scrubbers on its coal power plants, and to impose similar air-pollutant regulations on other emitters.
As per usual, journalists don’t know squat about power generation. China is building a LOT of nuclear plants these days. They are aiming at having 600 by 2050 and well over 1500 by the end of the decade. In the past month they have installed major components on several of their many nuclear plants under construction. And they DON’T need any technological help from the West. They also have created huge hydro generation dams that are producing an awful lot of electricity. We are now producing electricity via nuclear plants that is cheaper than coal. The crossover point, when nuclear became cheaper than coal occurred I believe about 4 years ago. Production costs is between 3 and 4 cents per kWhr for nuclear and about 33% more for coal generated power, at least before the price of coal tumbled.
Nuclear fuel costs practically nothing : between 5 and 10 percent of the production costs.
There are Euro countries going for nuclear, like Bulgaria, and apparently England and others.
But Germany is shutting down its nuclear plants in favor of coal. I guess 60 years of accident free operation makes those nuclear plants too dangerous for the brainless German public. Yes, they are still as dumb as they were when they cheered Hitler.
MorningGuy says:
January 29, 2013 at 11:45 pm
All the people here bitchen about cheap coal – just imagine what it would be like to live in a place like this http://www.smh.com.au/environment/beijing-under-cloud-as-air-pollution-threat-sparks-emergency-response-20130114-2cppl.html
China will have their comeuppance in huge health care costs when their population turns older
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[snip . . equating Republicans with Chinese Communist Party seems like trolling . . mod]
Things will change when western politicians finally realize that they will never be able to control the world’s economy by creating international laws to control the use of fossil fuels. Saving the planet from some possible future CAGW is a loosing cause. On the other hand, we in the U.S. should not be burning “dirty” eastern coal with all it’s real pollutants. We should be converting it to “clean” natural gas before burning it.
Good for China! And we help their competitive edge by stifling ourselves. Nice!
Carbon is cheap in Europe, how does that equate to ‘draconian’ regulations? As the Reuters article says, the problem is industrial production. Are you blaming the economic stagnation in Europe on GW regs??
I’ve been to Beijing and Shanghai. Terrible air quality. Western anti-pollution legislation is far from draconian.
One other thing, China does a great job “talking the talk” with its support of wind farms (in areas with no or limited electric transmission), biomass (where there is lots of wood), and solar (to sell panels to European and US countries that have renewable laws). They support carbon capture technology, as well. Meanwhile they burn half the coal and keep it coming. Nice.
So are our leaders just extremely gullible or paid saboteurs ?
MarkG says:
January 29, 2013 at 8:33 pm
I’ve often wondered which Western politicians are taking bribes from the Chinese to push policies that destroy their own economies. I’m sure when the final history of the ‘Global Warming’ scare is written a few decades from now there’ll be some interesting stories to tell.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Bill Clinton
He is the guy who got China into the World Trade Organization.
A time table is in How China Conquered America. The Real Bill Clinton Scandal.
Let’s start with his campaign Contributions:
Manufacturing & Technology News: China’s Entry Into The WTO 10 Years Later Is Not What President Clinton Promised: …Most all of the predictions from those pushing the deal at the time have proven to be wrong, according to an analysis done by Robert Lighthizer, former deputy United States Trade Representative…
Clinton was also the guy who signed five banking laws that got rid of the depression era laws put in place to prevent another depression. These are the laws that repealed the McFadden Act of 1927, the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 and the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 and lead to the Formation of Mega Banks. (Too Big To FAIL so had to be bailed out with TAX $$$) He is also responsible for the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992 and the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 that was responsible for marginal mortgage loans doomed to fail and the unregulated CDSs used by AIG to insure the banks against foreclosure.
Marc said (January 29, 2013 at 9:27 pm )
“…China’s per capita CO2 emissions are well below the U.S. and a little below the E.U.’s…”
And they’ve got about 4.25 times the “per capita” that the US does. So when you see China at 7.2 tonnes per capita (and a population of about 1,336,718,015 people) compared to the U.S. at 17.3 tonnes per capita (and a population of about 313,232,044 people), you see just what the real story is: China’s total of 9,624,369,708 tonnes of CO2 far outpace the US value of 242,593,921 tonnes of CO2 – by a factor of about 39.6:1.
Henry,
So you have discovered that China has more people than we do. That’s really something Henry.