Doomer Fail: New Coal-Fired Power Plants Surge to 10-Year Global High

Breitbart ^ | 21 May 2026 | Simon Kent

[Olog-hai]

The world loves coal. That is the simple message from results showing new coal-fired power plants hit a global 10-year high in 2025, defying climate doomers who decry its use and long for wind farms, solar panels and hydro power everywhere.

Rising gas prices and supply disruptions linked to the Middle East crisis are just some of the factors pushing countries like China, Indonesia, India, Japan, South Korea, Germany, and Italy to rely more heavily on dependable coal-fired energy security even as the global coal fleet generated less electricity – for now.

Overall coal power capacity — plants that came online or were commissioned — jumped 3.5 percent last year according to a report from Global Energy Monitor (GEM), which has tracked coal power for more than a decade, AFP reports.

The overwhelming majority of that — 95 percent — was in China and India, GEM said, with the U.S. also keenly embracing the power source under President Donald Trump who calls it “beautiful, clean coal,” as Breitbart News reported. …

[GenXPolymath]

Those kinds of reductions take ESP wet usually then a bag house.

The water vapor that you used to see is now captured in the acid gas unit then the rest of it in the electrostatic precipitator and any remaining is absorbed by the active carbon in the bag house. The stack emissions are bone dry by the time they get up the stack.

None of that tech approaches how clean natural gas is. Gas is zero PM2.5, near zero NOx and single digit ppm of SOx , and zero ppm of heavy metals. Coal has all of those at ppt a.d ppm levels. You cannot burn coal in an open atmospheric flame and not get vapor heavy metals the laws of physics dictate this. Only triple level analytical cleaning can remove them down to single digit ppm levels. Active carbon bag houses are legal for now but if you held coal to natural gas levels of emissions you could never hit it without going to gasification and analytical gas clean up BEFORE combustion.

[woodbutcher1963]

India also buys a lot of coal from us. So, those boat loads from Tacoma are going there too.

China buys a lot of coal from Malaysia and Australia too.
Keep in mind we have the US dollar exchange rate going against us in other markets. I suspect the guy working in a coal mine in Malaysia also may makes less, is not in a union and OSHA is not inspecting their mines regularly. They probably still have a Canary in a cage over there. Plus Malaysia and Australia are physically closer. Therefore, the freight to get it delivered is less. There are lots of factors why someone buys a product half way around the world from someone else. Generally BUYING AMERICAN is more expensive.