The largest source of primary energy, coal

[moinsdewatt]

Coal becomes Australia's number one export item, exceeding the value of iron ore exports.

Coal is Australia's most valuable export in 2018

By Cole Latimer December 21, 2018 -

Coal will replace iron ore as Australia's most valuable export this financial year as supply concerns lead to a steep price rise for the core commodity.

The Department of Industry, Innovation and Science's latest Resources and Energy Quarterly report said thermal and coking coal export values ​​would reach $ 67 billion in total in 2018-19, slightly higher than iron ore's $ 61 billion in value.



Coal leapt over iron ore as supply concerns ratcheted up the price. It is the first time coal has overtaken iron ore in value since the mining boom five years ago.

https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-eco ... 50nd4.html

[moinsdewatt]

-2.6% for the tonnage of coal extracted in the USA in 2018.

In 2018, US coal production declined as exports and Appalachian region prices rose


in Commodity News 26/01/2019

EIA estimates that total 2018 US coal production was 755 million short tons (MMst), 20 MMst less than in 2017 and 36% less than in the previous decade. In 2018, coal prices rose in three of the five major coal-producing regions, particularly the Northern and Central Appalachian regions. Although US coal exports increased by about 10 MMst in 2018, volumes were not great enough to offset the decline in US coal consumption, resulting in declining coal production.

Of the five major coal-producing basins, two saw increased production in 2018 compared with 2017. In the Central Appalachian and Illinois Basins, production increased 4% (3 MMst) and 2% (2 MMst), respectively. The Rocky Mountain region experienced the largest decline as a share of production, 12% (6 MMst) lower than in 2017. The Powder River and Northern Appalachian Basins also declined by 3% and 2%, respectively.



EIA estimates that total coal consumption in the United States was 692 MMst in 2018, falling to the lowest level in 39 years. More than 90% of domestic coal consumption is in the power sector, and nearly 15 gigawatts of coal-fired generation capacity were retired in 2018, contributing to the decline in coal consumption. Although natural gas prices continued to rise in 2018, EIA estimates that the coal share of total power generation declined, reaching a new low of 28%, lower than the natural gas share (35%) for the third consecutive year. Increasing coal prices and demand for coal exports, along with continued competition with natural gas, also contributed to a decline in overall coal consumption.
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https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/in ... ices-rose/

[moinsdewatt]

Balkan coal suffocates Europe

By Jules Vincent - February 22, 2019

According to a report by five NGOs, including the health and environment alliance, 16 coal-fired power plants in the Balkans pollute as much as the 250 other factories present in Europe.

A single coal-fired power plant located in Bosnia and Herzegovina, called Ugljevik, emits as much sulfur dioxide (SO2) as all of the German coal power plants. Worse, the 16 power plants present in the western Balkans, in Bosnia, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia, pollute as much SO2 as the 250 power plants present in the rest of Europe. "Sulfur dioxide is classified as very toxic to humans when inhaled," the report released Tuesday said. It is the cause of lung cancer, cardiovascular or respiratory problems, such as asthma. The fallout from such pollution led to more than 3 deaths on the continent in 900. According to the report of five NGOs, including the Alliance for Health and the Environment, a European organization for the protection of the environment, or the NGO Europe Beyond Coal, this pollution would cost the continent 2016 billion euros per year in health spending.

Sarajevo was the city with the worst air quality index in the world on Thursday morning, according to the AirVisual website, which ranks the most dangerous cities to breathe in real time. While Skopje or Belgrade are also present in this ranking, the region is experiencing increasingly severe winter pollution episodes and this use of coal is not without reason. If we look at the ranking of the 10 most SO2-emitting coal-fired power plants on the continent, 9 of them are in the Balkans. As for the classification of the most polluting in fine particles (PM10), 8 are located in the region. On average, these 16 plants emit 20 times more SO2 than the 250 in Europe, and 16 times more fine particles.

Communist era factories

The construction of the Serbian central Kostolac B, the most polluting of the continent, dates from 1987. That of Ugljevik, in Bosnia, which pollutes as much as all the German factories put together, started in 1976. These complexes thus date from the era communist and use lignite, the most polluting coal. There are many mechanisms to limit SO2 emissions, but the report shows that power plants like the Kostolac B plant have such technology without using it. Most of the other plants are not European standards and therefore do not use this type of mechanism. These Balkan states defend the use of lignite for their energy security. Serbia even plans to build a new, cleaner coal plant with the help of Chinese builders and banks.

The five NGOs however assure it: a transition towards renewable energies is technically feasible but above all economically viable for countries like Bosnia or Serbia. They call on these countries not to build any more plants and to switch to renewable energy by 2050, while calling on Brussels to take into account this massive use of coal in the process of integration of these states into the European Union. As Vlatka Matkovic Puljic, one of the main contributors to the report, recalls: "Air pollution knows no borders and remains an invisible killer in Europe."

https://www.liberation.fr/planete/2019/ ... pe_1710786

[Bardal]

Well ... Yes ... Coal kills ... Massively and blindly ... More than 50 deaths a year in Europe ...
And these "externalities" are not taken into account in the cost price of this energy, any more than the damage done to the environment.

And lignite is even worse ...

As for calling on "Brussels to take this massive use of coal into account in the process of integrating these states into the European Union", I would find it funny that Germany or Poland, or even Denmark, which are using shameless of this polluting energy, go and vilify these countries ... The "communist era" is not responsible for everything, and our "liberal era" has its charms too ...

[izentrop]

Germany plans to exit coal in 2038. It will be too late but good! it's a good resolution https://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/socie ... 59364.html

[moinsdewatt]

Siberia: black coal covers several cities because of coal

Thomas Boisson February 18, 2019



In countries where coal is the main resource, mass extraction can be responsible for astonishing weather events. This is the case in Siberia, where the fumes from coal power plants were so dense that atmospheric coal residues contaminated the snow, giving rise to real rains of black snow, covering some cities of the country. Beyond the spectacular aspect of the event, it is above all one of the many dangerous consequences of coal pollution.

Earlier this year, the polar vortex left vast stretches of North America covered in a scintillating blanket of ghostly white snow and ice. However, it didn't take long before this immaculate white took on a more disturbing black hue. Black snow was spotted in the Kemerovo region, in the southwest of Siberia, in the Kuznetsk basin, the mining center of the country.

Indeed, coal dominates the economy and the identity of the region so well that the Krasnaya Gorka, a museum (inside / outside) of coal extraction, is one of the main attractions of Kemerovo. The region's rich coal resources may have served residents well in terms of employment, but it is also a major cause of pollution. As a result, the cities of Prokopyevsk, Kiselyovsk and Leninsk were targets for coal-impregnated snowfall.

Residents are currently pointing the finger at a nearby coal-fired power plant. According to reports, the factory failed to filter the vapors enough. Andrei Panov, deputy governor of the Kemerovo region, also accuses coal-fired boilers, car exhaust and other coal-fired power plants.

It is not the first time that the inhabitants of Kemerovo have witnessed such a phenomenon. It was not until December that officials were suspected of painting the snow white to conceal the dust and dirt that had made it dark gray. And it's not just Russia. Temirtau, an iron-mining region in central Kazakhstan, was also covered in black snow earlier this year.

In response, residents sent Aliya Nazarbayeva, head of the Association of Environmental Organizations in Kazakhstan (and the youngest daughter of President Nursultan Nazarbayev), a letter in which it was written: "Snow is a litmus test, revealing the frightening scale of these harmful emissions. All the dust from the plant ends up in our lungs, and in those of our children. ”

Source: Siberian Times

https://trustmyscience.com/neige-noire- ... s-siberie/

[moinsdewatt]

Finland to shut down coal-fired power plants

April 20th

Give up coal by 2030

In recent years, Finland has been a good student in environmental policy. This northern European country has one of the cleanest electricity mixes in Europe thanks to the use of nuclear and renewable energy: in 2016, more than 80% of the electricity produced in Finland was carbon-free .

The government does not intend to stop there, however, and has announced ambitious climate targets, including the reduction of 80% of its greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The country aims ultimately to be neutral carbon.

To achieve this objective Helsinki will have no choice but to limit its use of fossil fuels, which currently represent a 16% share of its electricity mix. To do this, the government has decided in the latest version of its climate policy to completely abandon coal in the electricity production sector by 2030.

“Giving up coal is the only way to reach our international climate goals. Finland is therefore well positioned to become one of the first countries in the world to pass a law banning coal, ”Economy Minister Olli Rehn told reporters at Reuters.

Subsidies to support this measure
Kimmo Tiilikainen, Finnish Minister for the Environment, is known for his uncompromising stance against coal.

Aware that "greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced much sooner than expected to mitigate climate change", he recently announced that plans to ban coal as an energy source may well be advanced to 2029 ( instead of the original date of 2030).

The final decision should in any case be known this year, Helsinki having announced the forthcoming publication of its national energy plan for the next decade.

The government has also announced that the exit of coal will be accompanied by measures supposed to facilitate the transition to clean energy.

An envelope of 90 million euros should be released by Helsinki in order to set up a subsidy program intended to reward companies and industrialists who will no longer use coal by 2025.

.......

https://www.lemondedelenergie.com/finla ... 018/04/20/

[PVresistif]

Coal is the energy of rich countries: Germany, China, Australia, Canada .....
Conversely, nuclear power is the energy of poor countries
Choose your camp comrade.......

[moinsdewatt]

Coal consumption in China increased for the second year in a row

AFP 28 Feb. 2019

Coal consumption increased by 1% last year in China, even if the share of this polluting energy continued to decrease in the country's balance sheet, according to official figures released Thursday. After three years of decline between 2014 and 2016, coal consumption increased by 1% in 2018 after having already recorded an increase of 0,4% in 2017, announced the National Bureau of Statistics (BNS).

China, the world's leading polluter, also remains by far the leading country consuming coal. In the country's total energy mix, however, the share of coal continued to decline last year, falling by 1,4 percentage points to 59% of the total. The drop is slightly less than that recorded the previous year (-1,6 points).

The total energy consumption of the second world economy has indeed increased by 3,3% in 2018, but the other energy sources have grown significantly faster than coal: + 6,5% for oil, +17,7 , 8,5% for natural gas, and + XNUMX% for electricity.

The share of "clean energies" according to the Chinese definition (nuclear, natural gas, hydroelectricity, renewables) in the total consumption of the Asian giant has increased as in 2017 by 1,3 points, to 22,1%. In the end, CO2 emissions per unit of GDP fell by 4% last year, but less than in 2017 (-5,1%), despite the slowdown in economic growth, which fell from 6,7% to 6,6%, its lowest score for 28 years.

Burning coal for electricity and heating is responsible for most of China's greenhouse gas emissions. It is also the main source of the pollution haze that regularly hits Chinese cities: a "smog" that causes strong popular discontent.

https://www.connaissancedesenergies.org ... ive-190228

[moinsdewatt]

It is time for the Poles to go nuclear:

Coal remains the biggest smog supplier in Poland

AFP released the 31 March 2019

Smoke, sometimes yellowish, sometimes gray or black, comes out of the chimneys at Rybnik, and with it fine particles that suffocate the inhabitants of this mining town, one of the most polluted in Poland and the EU.

In this early spring, the temperatures are still very cold. Ewa Kempny, in her forties, loads her old stove with coal to heat her house.

"What do you want us to heat ourselves with? Coal is the cheapest fuel. Connecting a house to gas or central heating would cost me too much," said the mother of a family as the municipal police carried out a check in his cellar.

The alert was given by a resident worried about the color of the smoke.

"We check to see if trash is burned there. People, whether rich or poor, burn fiberboard, Tetra Pak packaging or plastic bottles," says official Katarzyna Klosok, while checking the quality of the ash and the coal bills. "And that more out of habit than out of necessity because they could well have them removed by the city".

"The day when we have salaries as in the countries of the West of the EU we will heat ourselves with gas", proclaims Jan Kilian, a retired miner, living in another controlled house.

"Poorly seasoned wood is also the source of smog," adds Katarzyna Klosok. At each check, she explains that the stove will have to be changed by 2021. "For the most part, they do not meet any standard. It is only since 2018 that the installation of 5th and last category stoves has been prohibited."

"Unfortunately coal, the main cause of smog, is not prohibited," laments Oliwer Palarz, father of two children and activist for an environmentalist association, Alarm smogowy.

Coal is king in Poland, a country which produces 90% of its energy with its "black gold" and does not intend to part with it so quickly. Worse, some of its highly polluting waste is not prohibited. In Belk, a neighboring village, 25 tons of fine coal go up in smoke in one winter month to heat a set of six buildings.

"In winter, the smog traps me at home. I cannot play sports outside, jog or cycle. But above all I cannot go out to take my children for a walk," laments Oliwer Palarz .

His fears are justified: smog is the cause of 50.000 deaths a year in this country of 38 million inhabitants.

- Red icon -

The city being located in a natural basin, only a strong south wind can ventilate it. And it is rare.

"Days like today can be counted on the fingers of one hand in winter," said Jacek Szczepanski, head of the municipal crisis management center which monitors pollution 24 hours a day.

“Today at 7 am, the level of fine particles PM10 was 40 mg / m3, the standard being 50 mg / m3. Children will be able to play in the yard,” he says.

At the entrance of primary school n ° 8, a smiling green icon informs children about the quality of the air. "Children know that a red icon forbids them to go out, the orange and the yellow one do not recommend going out, in particular for children with asthma", explains an assistant.

People usually come home from work around 15:00 p.m. and turn on the heat. The strongest peaks are then reached. On March 4 at 1:00 a.m., the PM10 fine particle level was 735 mg / m3, the record for the month.

The annual EU air pollution limit of 35 days was exceeded in Rybnik on February 20. On average, the threshold of 50 mg / m3 is exceeded between 120 and 130 days per year, that is, all winter.

- Diesel -
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https://www.connaissancedesenergies.org ... mog-190331