Not long ago I posted the video below the fold. Basic question posted by Australian Broadcasting Company was, “Is coal dead?”
If you were wondering, the question is answered by the new coal industry ad above, part of a new campaign called “Little Black Rock”.
The YouTube stats are telling. Out of 30,000 views, over 1200 dislikes and only 25 likes.
Total fail! Probably a record for the like/dislike ratio.
Those sociopaths really don’t have a clue how unpopular their product is.
This is particularly worth sharing under the #coalisamazing hashtag!
https://youtu.be/tqXzAUaTUSc
This is the total hogwash. Australia maybe under the gun for its use of coal, but Germany’s is now going back to it, because of failed policies of trying to get alternative energies invoked. There’s no baseload power in alternatives, http://bit.ly/1IMZ4pj . Similarly,renewable energy is taking a beating as well, in Spain, http://nyti.ms/1Fp3Gjd .
Choose better links – every pic in the 1st link is broken.
And Spain’s woes have more to do with the continuing fallout from the financial crisis. If the subsidies are too high, they can be adjusted as has been done many times in Germany.
And Germany isn’t going back to coal – they’re replacing old plants with newer, cleaner more flexible ones and the total generation from coal is decreasing and has been for years.
It would have happened more quickly but they’ve been cutting natgas use as well because of the strained relations with Russia.
Most of Germany’s energy sources are showing slight increases or decreases of 2-5 % compared to the 1st 6 months of 2014.
Nuclear is up 2%, solar & natgas down 5% each, lignite down 4%, biomass neutral and that leaves wind and hydro.
Both are up and the percentage increase is 10% hydro and ….wait …..for …it……
FORTY percent for wind.
Now some countries have been seeing a drop in wind production recently, which may or may not be the impact of the incipient El Niño but this time of year is usually the start of stronger wind output in the Northern Hemisphere.
https://youtu.be/MsgrahFln0s
Richard, your first link says that Energyweinde is on the verge of collapse. The thing is, that article stated such in April of 2014; it’s now September of 2015. Did we miss the collapse, or…?
Or….?
What you perhaps missed is that Richard A. Fletcher is apparently the same person as our ever-famous “fletch”, the moron who cuts and pastes all sorts of meaningless crap that he doesn’t understand here on Crock (and makes inane comments on many other blogs under one or the other of his handles).
Try to ignore him.
Looks like the new tactic is to portray any down-tick in wind or solar (regardless of cause like, say, revoking incentives) as The End of Renewables.
Maybe next we will be treated to breathless assertions that there has been no increase in renewables in 18 months, or years, or something. Allegations that if we don’t admit to the “pause” in renewable growth that we are “alarmist” or something equally icky.
Can’t we just exile these idiots to Tuvalu or something?
Not hogwash if you live in Australia’s neighboring Island of Kiribati, either you do not care of the plight of the South Pacific Islanders or you have not read the science on warming effects of CO2, either way is inexcusable.
‘We cannot be bought on climate change,’ Pacific island leader warns Tony Abbott’
“We expect them as bigger brothers, not bad brothers, to support us on this one because our future depends on it.”
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/we-cannot-be-bought-on-climate-change-pacific-island-leader-warns-tony-abbott-20150908-gjhyv7.html
This is what it is like to live in Kiribati – This is what coal burning is doing . . .
Kiribati – Peia Kararaua, 16, swims in the flooded area of Aberao village that is located in Tarawa atoll, Kiribati. Kiribati is one of the countries most affected by sea level rise. During high tide many villages become inundated making large parts of them uninhabitable.
http://www.dw.com/en/global-ideas-ecc-climatechange-biodiversity-globalization-education-doingyourbit/a-18679189
My favorite tweet thus far in the mocking-coal campaign:
“Amazing Coal. Little black rock changes climate, raises sea levels, increases extreme weather, causes illness. Clever Coal”
https://twitter.com/lorddeben/status/641007312157712384
Australia is gonna have more coal than it knows what to do with if China keeps up the money printing.
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UPDATE 1-China August coal imports drop nearly 18 pct on month
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/08/china-economy-trade-coal-idUSL4N11E1P920150908
* Imports from Jan to Aug down 31.3 pct on year
* Currency devaluation erodes competitiveness of imports
* Exports rise 29.3 percent (Adds detail, background)
BEIJING, Sept 8 (Reuters) – China, the world’s largest coal buyer, imported 17.49 million tonnes of the fuel in August, down 17.7 percent from July, with already weak demand affected by a currency devaluation that made foreign coal more expensive.
China has been trying to tackle an immense supply glut that has weighed on prices. As well as urging big local producers to cut output, it has drawn up new quality standards aimed at restricting low-grade imports.
Imports had staged a recovery in July when domestic miners chose to cut production in order to minimise losses, allowing lower-cost foreign suppliers to take advantage. Industry estimates suggest that more than half of China’s mining firms either cut output or suspended operations completely in July.
July imports hit an eight-month high of 21.26 million tonnes, but the seasonal demand peak has finished and foreign coal is now more expensive as a result of the currency devaluation, meaning that imports could decline further in the coming months.
“Under the impact of the devaluation, the price advantages of imported coal will gradually narrow, and we are forecasting imports coming under further pressure in September,” said analysts with Guangfa Securities.
Imports for the first eight months of the year, including low-grade lignite, were down 31.3 percent compared to last year at 138.6 million tonnes.
Local prices have inched down further in early September, with thermal coal at the port of Qinhuangdao SH-QHA-TRMCOAL selling at 405 yuan ($63.61) per tonne, down 5 yuan compared to last week. They are down 22.9 percent since the beginning of the year.
The devaluation appears to have sparked an increase in exports, which reached 530,000 tonnes over the month, up 29.3 percent compared to July but still a small fraction of China’s overall coal trade.
Total exports for the first eight months hit 3.29 million tonnes, down 16.3 percent from the same period last year. ($1 = 6.3670 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by David Stanway; Editing by Joseph Radford)
“Australia is gonna have more coal than it knows what to do with if China keeps up the money printing”.
Yep, and don’t forget Indonesia. Maybe they can figure out a way to eat it? It is after all, that wonderful and magical “black rock”. Coalburgers?
Go, China, go!
Keeping my fingers crossed that they will show the world how it is done.