Posted on 05/22/2015 5:26:33 AM PDT by thackney
New figures show that China’s use of coal has continued to fall dramatically over the first four months of 2015, according to Greenpeace Energydesk.
In fact, following news in October of 2014 that showed coal use had fallen for the first time this century, these most recent figures suggest that the decline in China’s coal use is actually accelerating.
According to Energydesk, coal consumption in China fell by almost 8%, and CO2 emissions dropped by approximately 5% over the first four months of 2015, when compared to the first four months of 2014.
Impressively, for China, their figures are roughly the same as the reductions seen in the UK — whereas the reduction in coal use is equal to four times UK total consumption, a strong reminder of the need for China to increase energy efficiency.
Greenpeace Energydesk reported the figures from the country’s National Energy Administration in October of 2014, revealing that China’s coal use dropped by 1.28% in 2014.
However, in March of this year, new data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China indicates that coal consumption dropped by 2.9%.
As can be seen below, non-coal power generation growth in 2014 has been primarily the result of improved hydropower conditions and hydropower capacity growth. Nevertheless, renewable energy solutions such as wind, solar, and biomass are also contributing to the overall growth of non-coal power.
These non-coal power generation options are only going to continue, as well, as can be seen by taking a quick stroll back through the CleanTechnica China archives. Numerous companies are making moves into the country’s solar and wind industry, boosting China’s overall value as a renewable energy investment destination.
Greenpeace! LOL!
Wait! This is a good thing. If China is lowering their fossil fuel use, we really don’t have to change anything in the US since China and the UK are singlehandedly ending global warming.
With all the money we give to China, we can call it a carbon credit. WOOHOO!!!! Global warming is over and we can all thank the Chinese. YAY!!!!!
Falling Chinese Coal Consumption and Output Undermine Global Market
http://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-coal-consumption-and-output-fell-last-year-1424956878
Feb. 26, 2015
Wall Street Journal
Troubled Times For Chinese Coal
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/troubled-times-for-chinese-coal/
18/05/2015
When relationships start to fall apart, sometimes the warning signs have been detectable for a while. But they can also come to a much more abrupt, painful end, and in the case of China and its coal imports, it’s arguably somewhere between the two. The recent pace of decline in imports into China, last year the world’s largest coal importer, has taken some by surprise, and is having a significant impact.
Last year, seaborne coal trade hit 1.2 billion tonnes, more than a quarter of all dry bulk trade. In 2009, when coal trade totalled just over 800mt, low global coal prices sparked the beginning of China’s affair with imported coal. China had previously been a net coal exporter, but in just four years, China became the largest importer of coal globally, and steam and coking coal imports topped 260mt in 2013. China’s new relationship propelled total coal trade growth into double digits.
By early 2014, China’s monthly coal imports had reached 30mt, enough to supply nearly 10% of its total coal needs. But some initial warning signs were soon visible, as greater attention was given to air pollution in China’s major cities. Before the year was out, Beijing had started to engineer a significant alteration to the relationship. Coal import taxes and quality limits were announced, and power plants were ordered to reduce reliance on imported coal. For the first time in years, China’s coal imports fell in 2014, by 10%.
The situation seems to have worsened so far this year. Slowing economic growth and strong hydro-power generation led to a drop in Chinese coal demand in Q1 2015 (coal-fired power generation fell 4% y-o-y, while steel output dropped by 2%). Efforts to protect the huge domestic coal mining industry (which produced nearly 4 billion tonnes of coal in 2014) have dealt a further blow to imports. Despite foreign coal prices remaining at low levels, in Q1 China’s seaborne imports totalled just 38mt, down nearly 50% y-o-y.
I smell a huge pantload with this story ...
Does anyone believe these sources?
Been reported by multiple sources of multiple months...
Like the Wall Street Journal? How about Bloomberg?
Here’s What China Closing Coal-Power Plants Means for Emissions
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-19/here-s-what-china-closing-coal-power-plants-means-for-emissions
April 19, 2015
China’s recent scrapping of small coal plants will avoid the release of as much as 11.4 million metric tons annually of climate-warming carbon dioxide, helping the country cut emissions for the first time in more than a decade.
The impact is a sign of what’s to come as China pushes for a cap on coal and moves to shutter, or refit, its dirtiest coal-burning power plants. China overhauled or scrapped as much as 3.3 gigawatts of the facilities in 2014, according to a March statement from the National Bureau of Statistics.
The reduction in greenhouse gases assumes most of the capacity was retired because it doesn’t meet current standards and estimates that the plants annually used 5.2 million tons of coal, producing 2.2 million tons of carbon emissions per million ton of coal, according to estimates from Sophie Lu, a Beijing-based analyst from Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
“China has tightened environmental protection and has taken measures to close small plants that don’t meet the standards for the environment and replaced them with less-polluting bigger plants,” said Sun Weifeng, a Shanghai-based analyst from Yuanta Securities HK Co. “This may not have a significant impact in the short term but will be very meaningful in the long run.”
Using Chinese data?
Also using data of the imports entering the country by shippers.
See post #5
With Chinese demand falling, Australia’s coal producers are looking to other markets.
http://thediplomat.com/2015/04/india-to-the-rescue-as-australia-eyes-coals-crown/
Australia will usurp Indonesia to reclaim its title as the world’s biggest coal exporter by 2017, according to government forecasts. In the meantime though, the industry is expected to see tough times as it adjusts to China’s slowdown and a supply overhang from the boom, along with environmental pressures, with India emerging as the new source of demand.
But this doesn’t jive with the story of them building coal power plants 1 every week. unless the plants are idol. Coal for steel I can see.
That story line is a couple years out of date.
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