And in yet another sign that
the global coal boom is over, Bank of America has just announced a sweeping new commitment to scale down its credit exposure to coal mining.
Some energy specialists will explain below why
the global coal boom renders the legislative debate on climate somewhat moot from the standpoint of the shared global atmosphere, where the source of emissions is irrelevant to their ultimate heating influence.
Not exact matches
While the U.S.
boom in shale gas helped push the fossil fuel's share of total
global energy consumption from 23.8 to 23.9 percent,
coal also increased its share, from 29.7 to 29.9 percent, as demand for
coal - fired electricity remained strong across much of the developing world, including China and India, and parts of Europe.
* The government insists that dealing with
global warming is way down the priority list and since our economy is
booming because of mineral exports (including heaps of
coal don't you know) we should concentrate on that and not get too worried about the water situation.
It's worth reflecting, on the eve of Earth Day 2011, that one year ago I was blogging about
boom times for the
global coal industry.
The first signs of a fossil - fuel bust emerged early last year with growing evidence that the decade - long
boom in
global coal demand was peaking.
Drawing on the
Global Coal Plant Tracker, they released their annual «Boom and Bust» report on the global coal pip
Global Coal Plant Tracker, they released their annual «Boom and Bust» report on the global coal pipel
Coal Plant Tracker, they released their annual «
Boom and Bust» report on the
global coal pip
global coal pipel
coal pipeline.
A growing share of
global coal demand comes from those countries, though the
coal boom climate hawks feared seems to be slowing somewhat.
«Texas Decision Could Double Wind Power Capacity in the U.S.,» Renewable Energy Access, 4 October 2007;
coal - fired power plant equivalents calculated by assuming that an average plant has a 500 - megawatt capacity and operates 72 percent of the time, generating 3.15 billion kilowatt - hours of electricity per year; an average wind turbine operates 36 percent of the time; Iceland geothermal usage from Iceland National Energy Authority and Ministries of Industry and Commerce, Geothermal Development and Research in Iceland (Reykjavik, Iceland: April 2006), p. 16; European per person consumption from European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), «Wind Power on Course to Become Major European Energy Source by the End of the Decade,» press release (Brussels: 22 November 2004); China's solar water heaters calculated from Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21), Renewables
Global Status Report, 2006 Update (Washington, DC: Worldwatch Institute, 2006), p. 21, and from Bingham Kennedy, Jr., Dissecting China's 2000 Census (Washington, DC: Population Reference Bureau, June 2001); Philippines from Geothermal Energy Association (GEA), «World Geothermal Power Up 50 %, New US
Boom Possible,» press release (Washington, DC: 11 April 2002).
(11/15/07) «Ban the Bulb: Worldwide Shift from Incandescents to Compact Fluorescents Could Close 270
Coal - Fired Power Plants» (5/9/07) «Massive Diversion of U.S. Grain to Fuel Cars is Raising World Food Prices» (3/21/07) «Distillery Demand for Grain to Fuel Cars Vastly Understated: World May Be Facing Highest Grain Prices in History» (1/4/07) «Santa Claus is Chinese OR Why China is Rising and the United States is Declining» (12/14/06) «Exploding U.S. Grain Demand for Automotive Fuel Threatens World Food Security and Political Stability» (11/3/06) «The Earth is Shrinking: Advancing Deserts and Rising Seas Squeezing Civilization» (11/15/06) «U.S. Population Reaches 300 Million, Heading for 400 Million: No Cause for Celebration» (10/4/06) «Supermarkets and Service Stations Now Competing for Grain» (7/13/06) «Let's Raise Gas Taxes and Lower Income Taxes» (5/12/06) «Wind Energy Demand
Booming: Cost Dropping Below Conventional Sources Marks Key Milestone in U.S. Shift to Renewable Energy» (3/22/06) «Learning From China: Why the Western Economic Model Will not Work for the World» (3/9/05) «China Replacing the United States and World's Leading Consumer» (2/16/05)» Foreign Policy Damaging U.S. Economy» (10/27/04) «A Short Path to Oil Independence» (10/13/04) «World Food Security Deteriorating: Food Crunch In 2005 Now Likely» (05/05/04) «World Food Prices Rising: Decades of Environmental Neglect Shrinking Harvests in Key Countries» (04/28/04) «Saudis Have U.S. Over a Barrel: Shifting Terms of Trade Between Grain and Oil» (4/14/04) «Europe Leading World Into Age of Wind Energy» (4/8/04) «China's Shrinking Grain Harvest: How Its Growing Grain Imports Will Affect World Food Prices» (3/10/04) «U.S. Leading World Away From Cigarettes» (2/18/04) «Troubling New Flows of Environmental Refugees» (1/28/04) «Wakeup Call on the Food Front» (12/16/03) «
Coal: U.S. Promotes While Canada and Europe Move Beyond» (12/3/03) «World Facing Fourth Consecutive Grain Harvest Shortfall» (9/17/03) «Record Temperatures Shrinking World Grain Harvest» (8/27/03) «China Losing War with Advancing Deserts» (8/4/03) «Wind Power Set to Become World's Leading Energy Source» (6/25/03) «World Creating Food Bubble Economy Based on Unsustainable Use of Water» (3/13/03) «
Global Temperature Near Record for 2002: Takes Toll in Deadly Heat Waves, Withered Harvests, & Melting Ice» (12/11/02) «Rising Temperatures & Falling Water Tables Raising Food Prices» (8/21/02) «Water Deficits Growing in Many Countries» (8/6/02) «World Turning to Bicycle for Mobility and Exercise» (7/17/02) «New York: Garbage Capital of the World» (4/17/02) «Earth's Ice Melting Faster Than Projected» (3/12/02) «World's Rangelands Deteriorating Under Mounting Pressure» (2/5/02) «World Wind Generating Capacity Jumps 31 Percent in 2001» (1/8/02) «This Year May be Second Warmest on Record» (12/18/01) «World Grain Harvest Falling Short by 54 Million Tons: Water Shortages Contributing to Shortfall» (11/21/01) «Rising Sea Level Forcing Evacuation of Island Country» (11/15/01) «Worsening Water Shortages Threaten China's Food Security» (10/4/01) «Wind Power: The Missing Link in the Bush Energy Plan» (5/31/01) «Dust Bowl Threatening China's Future» (5/23/01) «Paving the Planet: Cars and Crops Competing for Land» (2/14/01) «Obesity Epidemic Threatens Health in Exercise - Deprived Societies» (12/19/00) «HIV Epidemic Restructuring Africa's Population» (10/31/00) «Fish Farming May Overtake Cattle Ranching As a Food Source» (10/3/00) «OPEC Has World Over a Barrel Again» (9/8/00) «Climate Change Has World Skating on Thin Ice» (8/29/00) «The Rise and Fall of the
Global Climate Coalition» (7/25/00) «HIV Epidemic Undermining sub-Saharan Africa» (7/18/00) «Population Growth and Hydrological Poverty» (6/21/00) «U.S. Farmers Double Cropping Corn And Wind Energy» (6/7/00) «World Kicking the Cigarette Habit» (5/10/00) «Falling Water Tables in China» (5/2/00) Top of page
Steep price rises for oil and gas could stymie
global demand or prolong the current
coal boom or it could all run out sooner than expected.
Boom and Bust 2017: Tracking the
Global Coal Plant Pipeline Christine Shearer, Nicole Ghio, Lauri Myllyvirta, Aiqun Yu, and Ted Nace CoalSwarm, Sierra Club, Greenpeace March 2017 (Chinese)(English)(Hindi)(Indonesian)(Japanese)(Thai)(Turkish)(Vietnamese)
Boom and Bust: Tracking the
Global Coal Plant Pipeline Christine Shearer, Nicole Ghio, Lauri Myllyvirta, and Ted Nace CoalSwarm and Sierra Club March 2015
It wasn't long ago that everyone expected
global coal use to rise for decades to come, and now it's looking increasingly likely that the
coal boom is over.