Showing posts with label coal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label coal. Show all posts

Thursday, March 7, 2024

Obama's war on coal has resulted in the elimination of electrical generation capacity equivalent to the entire nuclear power sector, and these idiots wonder how America ended up running out of electricity

Starting from 2012 and going through 2022, ~ 106 GW of coal-fired capacity was eliminated in the US.

Of the ~ 200 GW remaining, ~ 23% is scheduled to be eliminated through 2029.

Meanwhile China just builds and builds and builds new coal-fired capacity. It now has at least 1,109 GW of coal-fired capacity, five times more than the US.



Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Sultan al Jaber keeps COP28 lunatics from taking the world back to the stone age lolz

 Anger and frustration as COP28 draft text omits fossil fuel phaseout

The burning of coal, oil and gas accounts for more than three-quarters of global greenhouse gas emissions. It is for this reason that so many had pushed for the COP28 outcome to show that “we are truly at the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era.”

However, COP28 President Sultan al Jaber faced a backlash last week when he claimed there was “no science” behind calls for a phase-out of fossil fuels, and that such a move would not allow sustainable development “unless you want to take the world back into caves.”

They always leave out that 82% of global energy comes from coal, oil, and gas.

You can't just wave a magic wand and make it all go away without committing global murder in the process.



 

Sunday, December 10, 2023

Boltneck sounds the alarm lol


 John F. Kerry, who served in Vietnam, let one go at the Dubai Climate Change Conference during his anti-coal spiel.

Wind energy. Bronx cheer. Emissions. Passing greenhouse gases. Loud fart. It's all here except for the skid mark.

Wednesday, September 6, 2023

Chris Christie credits Fed interest rate policy for denting government-spending-induced inflation but misses the role of collapsing energy prices

 Chris Christie is a smart guy with many of the right ideas about government spending, taxes, inflation, energy, and the environment.

But it's a real stretch to think that the timid interest rate increases of the Fed are responsible for this year's so-far moderating inflation indicators when it's falling energy prices since the winter which deserve the real credit. Christie himself admits that outrageous government spending hasn't been curbed at all.

His is a simple binary view which, while conventional and correct as far as it goes, doesn't get to the heart of the current matter. 

Low energy prices have always been and remain key to a successful economy, and it was the spike in natural gas cost inputs because of the Russia-Ukraine war which accelerated inflation globally, not just in the US.

Fed chair Jerome Powell was correct in June of 2021 to believe that inflation would be transitory for "weak supply" reasons, but the Fed rate increases didn't actually commence until the start of the war in Ukraine, which compounded those reasons with the cutoff of European natural gas supplies.

But since the winter the natural gas price is down 73% from peak, coal is down 70%, and gasoline is down too, but a comparatively modest 24%. 

Americans consumed in 2022 the energy equivalent of 26.9 billion kWh/day of natural gas, 13 billion kWh/day of gasoline, and 7.9 billion kWh/day of coal.

Natural gas is twice as important as gasoline in the overall American energy picture, primarily for heating, and as a substitute for coal in electricity generation.

Natural gas produced 4.6 billion kWh/day of electricity in 2022, the top source of electricity, vs. coal at 2.3 billion kWh/day and nuclear at 2.1 billion kWh/day.

Chris Christie is right though. We must "uncap" US oil and gas production and be energy independent.

Europe's natural gas storage, by the way, is presently 93% full as the war in Ukraine drags on. They are ready.

The US used 88.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day in 2022. We presently have about 35 days in storage.

Crude oil consumption in 2022 was about 20.3 million barrels per day. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is down to about 17 days of supply, from about 35 in 2011.

 

Watch CNBC’s full interview with GOP Presidential Candidate Chris Christie

Christie lets Fed off the hook for inflation, blames Trump and Biden for overspending




 

 

Monday, June 26, 2023

OPEC expects global oil demand to rise to 110 million barrels per day by 2045

 Reported here.

2022 global production averaged 80.6 million barrels per day on one accounting.

OPEC must think the 2022 figure closer to 90 million bpd since it projects growth in demand of 23%.

According to this, crude oil remained the top primary energy source in the world at 31.2% in 2020, followed by coal at 27.2%, and natural gas at 24.7%.

71% of China's primary energy is derived from coal. China is the world's number one emitter of so-called greenhouse gases.

Saturday, March 25, 2023

The State of New York is run by green energy extremists who hate your use of natural gas, same as in California and Washington

First they came for your toilets, dishwashers, and clothes washers, and you said nothing.

Then they came for your coal, and you said nothing.

Then they came for your lightbulbs, and you said nothing.

 




Sunday, March 5, 2023

WaPo ignores that it was Obama's war on coal which impoverished the Ohio River Valley and is now going hungry after the end of COVID-19 food assistance

A mile-long line for free food offers a warning as covid benefits end


 
In Kentucky, a state that has been hit particularly hard by the collapse of the coal industry, entrenched poverty and hunger have been generational problems that state and federal officials have struggled for decades to address. 

 
Obama's war on coal began immediately after his election.
 

 

Tuesday, February 14, 2023

LOL WaPo, stroking Gen Z for not driving cars because of "significant effects on carbon emissions"

Here:

If Gen Zers continue to eschew driving, it could have significant effects on the country’s carbon emissions. Transportation is the largest source of CO2 emissions in the United States. There are roughly 66 million members of Gen Z living in the United States. If each one drove just 10 percent less than the national average — that is, driving 972 miles less every year — that would save 25.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from spewing into the atmosphere. That’s the equivalent to the annual emissions of more than six coal-fired power plants. 

Six!

Oooh. Sounds like a lot.

 


 



Sunday, January 1, 2023

Germany boosts electricity from coal to 10 gigawatts, a drop in the bucket

 Bloomberg, here:

Germany now generates more than a third of its electricity from coal-fired power plants, according to Destatis, the federal statistical office. In the third quarter, its electricity from the fuel was 13.3% higher than the same period a year earlier, the agency said.  

Germany as recently as 2019 still had 40 gigawatts of electricity capacity from coal, and planned to reduce that to 27 by 2022, so obviously Germany has much more capacity available than 10 gigawatts during its present natural gas supply crisis caused by the Ukraine war.

But Germany's more serious mistake than reducing its coal capacity was its voluntary and hysterical reduction of nuclear generation capacity by 40% in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in 2011. Now it's got just 3 reactors left out of the 17 it had back in the day. 

Meanwhile US electric capacity from coal in 2021 dwarfed the German, at about 210 gigawatts, but that is way down from almost 318 in 2011, a similarly ideologically driven, self-imposed, and illogical reduction of 108 gigawatts, or 33% in ten years.

The foolish growing reliance on unreliable "green energy" in the US and the turn away from coal which began in earnest under Obama has meant increasing unreliability of electric resources during extreme events, and a huge increase in the duration of power outages experienced by customers.

The average customer outage was just north of 8 hours in 2020 vs. about 3.5 hours in 2013, an increase of over 130%.

This will only get worse if America tries to rely on wind and solar at the expense of fossil fuels and nuclear.


 

 



Thursday, December 29, 2022

There was nothing wrong with the coal or natural gas plants of the Tennessee Valley Authority: It was one-off wind damage and too many far-flung customers dependent on its electricity for heat

 Cold weather pushed up electricity use in TVA's seven-state region where more than 60% of homes are heated by electricity. ...

TVA Chief Operating Officer Don Moul is heading an investigation of the problems that led to the power outages last week. Moul said in a telephone interview that high winds damaged several of TVA's protective structures at the Cumberland plant and several gas-fired combustion turbines used for such peak power periods. TVA's directive to local power companies to cut some of their energy use was the most efficient means to respond to the inadequate energy supply, Moul said.


More

 

The left, of course, is blaming the fossil fuels themselves instead of wind damage to existing energy infrastructure, whose maintenance has been neglected in the rage for so-called green energy and against coal:


"[T]he mandatory blackouts were due to coal and gas failures," [Amy] Kelly [the Tennessee representative for the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign] said.

     

The hysteria of this prejudiced response is matched, however, by the feckless customers of the federally-run utility, whose only care is that their power was cut when it was 5 degrees F outside, and on Christmas Eve:

 

"Why would anyone in their right mind decide it is a GOOD idea to have rolling blackouts today? First of all, it is a whopping 5 degrees outside and second, it is Christmas Eve ... This is ridiculous."




Sunday, December 25, 2022

Tennessee has had plenty of much colder temperatures than this Christmas and never had to turn off the power before, but that was before they went insane

 What we know: TVA ordered rolling blackouts for the first time in 90 years amid freezing temps


Tennessee Valley Authority retired 3,370 MW of coal electric power capacity in 2012, 2017, and 2018.

The reason for that isn't because the plants were old, built in the 1950s. TVA still operates a bunch of much older hydroelectric plants dating back as far as 1911.

It's pure anti-fossil fuel ideology driving that, and foolishly allocating new capacity to solar and wind, which can't cut it.

And that's why they had to shut off the power in Tennessee for the first time.

The damn fools got 0.7 inches of snow and said it was one inch deep, too.

 




Saturday, December 24, 2022

CNN thinks November core inflation at 4.7% yoy is good news

There's never any discussion about how core inflation vaulted to the current levels well before the war in Ukraine even began.

The reason for the inflation surge is Biden's war for green energy, the one input which makes everything cost more because green energy costs much more than conventional energy from coal, oil, and natural gas.

Add trillion$ in COVID stimulus chasing too few goods and it's a recipe for the disaster which is ongoing, not moderating.

Some people get it. Most don't.


 

 


 

  • The Fed's Favorite Gauge Shows Price Increases Are Moderating


  • Thursday, October 6, 2022

    Despite 2015 Paris climate agreement, global reliance on coal grew by about 8%, looks to grow 23% more, shattering Greta's world, lol


     The NGOs report said there are currently more than 6,500 coal plant units globally with a combined capacity of 2,067 gigawatts. ...

    Urgewald’s Schuecking told CNBC that since the 2015 Paris accord was signed, the global coal plant fleet had seen a net increase of roughly 157 gigawatts. That’s the equivalent of Germany, Russia, Japan and Poland’s coal fleet added up together.

    The research found that 467 gigawatts of new coal-fired capacity were still in the pipeline worldwide. And, if realized, these projects would increase the world’s current coal power capacity by 23%. ...

    China was found to be responsible for 61% of all planned coal power capacity additions and, perhaps unsurprisingly, the top four coal plant developers were found to be Chinese companies . . .. China Energy Investment Corporation was the world’s top thermal coal producer last year. This was closely followed by Coal India . . ..

    I omitted Schuecking's temper tantrum parts of the story, here.

    She is, predictably, a German environmentalist wacko who is also against nuclear power. Urgewald is full of crazy Karens just like her who agitate against corporations and try to get individuals like David Malpass of the World Bank fired because they don't mouth the right words like the Paris Climate Accord hypocrites do.

    Urgewald is Exhibit A for the prospect of Germans freezing to death this winter.





    Tuesday, October 4, 2022

    Denmark restarts two coal and one oil power station, Germany restarts three coal power stations


    From the story:

    Orsted said the order applied to “unit 3 at Esbjerg Power Station and unit 4 at Studstrup Power Station, which both use coal as their primary source of fuel, and unit 21 at Kyndby Peak Load Plant, which uses oil as fuel.” ...

    A few days before Orsted’s announcement, another big European energy firm, Germany’s RWE, said three of its lignite, or brown coal, units would “temporarily return to [the] electricity market to strengthen security of supply and save gas in power generation.”

     

    Tuesday, August 2, 2022

    Low winds for a whole year, huh

     In Germany last year, in part because of low winds and the already rising price of natural gas, hard coal and lignite accounted for 28 percent of electricity production.

    Seems like an awful long time to be without wind but still depend on it.

    More.

    Friday, July 29, 2022

    LOL, Joe Manchin extracts gas and oil drilling concessions in Gulf of Mexico and Alaska in $369 billion compromise called "America’s biggest legislative moment for climate and energy policy"

     

    However, some groups more strongly condemned the support for fossil fuel projects in the agreement, specifically provisions that would mandate new oil and gas leasing in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska. Manchin, who comes from the coal-rich West Virginia, has argued that drilling in these areas is neccesary for the country’s energy independence.

    More.

    Let's hope Blue Dog Joe is made of stronger stuff than Bart Stupak and stands firm on the fossil fuel provisions. Stupak famously flamed out in 2010 when he helped pass Obamacare under reconciliation even though it omitted Hyde Amendment provisions prohibiting federal funding of abortion which he had insisted he supported and had to be in the bill.

    Thursday, July 21, 2022

    Before Joe Biden came down with COVID-19, he was at Brayton Point Power Station in Massachusetts, where 1530 MW of electricity used to be produced from cheap, plentiful coal

     Torn down starting in 2019, the former coal power plant will become a hub for just 804 MW of offshore wind energy, 52% of what used to come from that location.

    Biden was accompanied by the usual suspects.

    More.



    Wednesday, July 13, 2022

    LOL, Bitcoin mining operations in Texas threaten power limits, perverse grid operator blames coal and natural gas plants for being offline when overreliance on wind in summer is to blame

     From the story here
    ERCOT blamed forced outages at coal- and natural gas-fed power plants, and low wind power generation. A spokesperson declined to provide details on the number or type of generating plants that were offline and prompted conservation measures. ... As on Monday, it avoided forced cuts when big power consumers agreed to halt operations. Lee Bratcher, president of Texas Blockchain Council, said all of the state's large-scale Bitcoin mining operations, which consume about 1,000 megawatts, are currently offline because of ERCOT's call for conservation and high power prices.


    Monday, July 11, 2022

    LOL Reuters, 11 years ago: "Texas has the most wind power in the country, but the wind does not blow during the summer"

    Texas has the most wind power in the country, but the wind does not blow during the summer. Ercot said it got about 2,000 MW from wind during the peak hour on Wednesday. Those wind farms can produce about 9,000 MW when all turbines are spinning.

    Reuters, here.

    Wind generating capacity in Texas today is in the neighborhood of 35,000 megawatts, but only about 7,770 megawatts of that would be available under similar summer circumstances, with much less coal generating capacity available today than in 2011 to fill the breach:

    Because of the increase in wind power and the retirement of almost 6,000 megawatts of coal-fired generating capacity, coal-fired power plants supplied 18% of state generation in 2021, down from a 36% share in 2011.  

    And as a result Texas now gets to listen to this: