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The explosion occurred 6:45 p.m. at the state-owned TTK Amasra Muessese Mudurlugu mine in the town of Amasra, in the Black Sea coastal province of Bartin. Energy Minister Fatih Donmez said a preliminary assessment indicated the explosion was likely caused by firedamp — a reference to flammable gases found in coal mines. There were 110 people in the mine at the time of the explosion, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, who traveled to Amasra to coordinate the rescue operation, told reporters. Most of the workers were able to evacuate following the blast, but 49 were trapped in a higher risk area...

Germany to 'Thermally Recycle' COVID Masks as Country Faces Energy Apocalypse...According to Bloomberg, Germany plans to incinerate close to 800 million sealed face covers, which are however past their sell-by date, that were purchased in the initial outbreak of the COVID pandemic.Bloomberg also reported that Germany spent roughly $5.9 billion on those same face covers marked for incineration....According to Germany’s Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection, waste incineration in Germany offers the possibility of generating not only electricity but also heat....A minimum of 20 coal powered plants across the country are being restored and/or...

n an interview to be aired Wednesday, a teaser of which was shared online by TV host Sandra Maischberger, the Swedish campaigner said turning off the nuclear power stations was a "bad idea" if it meant switching to coal. Asked if nuclear was preferable for the climate, Thunberg said: "It depends. If they are already running, I think it would be a mistake to shut them down and turn to coal." Germany had planned to close its remaining three nuclear plants at the end of the year. With a gas squeeze and extended outages of French nuclear plants causing shortages...

... “For me, playing to win also means doing things differently. Doing things that others may question, but that we believe will put us in the winner’s circle the longest,” he said Wednesday during Toyota’s annual dealer meeting in Las Vegas, which, by the way, was called “Playing to Win.” Toyoda, who described Toyota as a large department store, said the company’s goal “remains the same, pleasing the widest possible range of customers with the widest possible range of powertrains.” Those powertrains will include hybrids and plug-in hybrids like the Prius, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles like the Mirai and 15...

Germany's largest power producer RWE said on Tuesday it is bringing forward its coal phase-out by eight years and is ready to end lignite-based electricity generation in 2030 as part of a deal reached with the government. However, faced with a Europe-wide energy crisis after Russia slashed gas deliveries following its invasion of Ukraine, RWE said it would temporarily boost its use of power plants fuelled by heavily polluting lignite, or brown coal. "In the current crisis, we are contributing to security of supply in Germany by temporarily increasing the use of our lignite-fired power plants, and are thus also...

The clamor of second graders breaking away from lessons to form lunch lines has gotten quieter in a rural New Mexico community, where families losing coal jobs have been forced to pack up and leave in search of work. At Judy Nelson Elementary, 1 in 4 students have left in an exodus spurred by decisions made five years ago to shutter a coal-fired power plant and mine that sit just up the road from the school in a largely Navajo community. The plant and mine had provided electricity to millions of people across the southwestern U.S. for nearly a half-century....

A coal company is building a new facility in western Kentucky. Riverview Coal LLC operates a massive underground coal mine in Union County. The new $35 million facility will be built in neighboring Henderson County, according to a media release from the Kentucky governor’s office. The project will create 260 jobs. …

Doesn’t this headline say it all about whose priorities are what?Energy crisis sparks air pollution fearsIn the environmentally conscious, Green-centric world where the Brussels commissioners live, their focus is on the air you breathe, not the mean temperature as you take that breath. Granted, it might be partially their fault – okay, mostly their fault – that the ambient air inside your humble cottage is a…tad cooler than it was last winter for the now 6, 8, or even 10 times as many Euros to make it so……As the Continent scrambles to avert a full-scale energy crisis, efforts to stay...

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - The sleepy Tanzanian port of Mtwara mainly dealt in cashew nuts until late last year. Now it bustles with vessels loading up with coal, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine drives a worldwide race for the polluting fuel. Tanzania traditionally exports thermal coal only to neighbouring countries in east Africa; sending it further afield was out of the question, as it required trucking the material more than 600 km from mines in its southwest to Mtwara, the nearest Indian Ocean port. Europe's crippling energy crisis has changed all that. Prices for thermal coal, used to generate...

Beijing (AFP) – China has stepped up spending on coal in the face of extreme weather, a domestic energy crunch and rising global fuel prices -- raising concerns Beijing's policies may hinder the fight against climate change. The country is the world's biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases driving global warming, and President Xi Jinping has vowed to reduce coal use from 2026 as part of a broad set of climate promises. Beijing has committed to peaking its carbon emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060. Overall carbon emissions in China have fallen for four consecutive quarters on...

GENEVA (AP) — The acting U.N. human rights chief on Monday urged European Union member states to avoid “backtracking” on their efforts to develop renewables and energy-efficiency projects at a time when soaring energy prices have prompted some to ramp up use of and searches for fossil fuels. Nada al-Nashif, the acting U.N. high commissioner for human rights, laid out rights concerns about more than 30 countries, regions and territories including Ethiopia, Ukraine, Myanmar and Haiti in an opening speech to the latest session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva. Beyond expressing concerns about the direct impact of Russia’s...

Coal is re-emerging as a key source of energy for European countries racing to replace increasingly scarce natural gas as Moscow shuts off key pipeline flows. Europe is caught in a worsening energy crisis as Russia uses its energy exports to retaliate against sanctions. So countries like Germany are turning to coal to secure energy supplies before winter hits. Power generation using coal has shot up over 20% in France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and the UK together since last year, Rystad Energy data shows. European countries have increased coal consumption this year. "Coal is definitely making a comeback, with...

by Samantha Foster | 24NewsIn a hilarous bit of irony last week, an electric vehicle needed some coal miners to get where it needed to go.The vehicle broke down Friday near Mettiki Coal access road on US 48, in Tucker County, West Virginia, according to WBOY-TV.A Facebook post from Randy Smith described the incident.Smith is a Republican state senator who represents the region where the incident took place, according to the West Virginia state Legislature website. He’s also the safety coordinator at Mettiki Coal, his Facebook page states.“Some days are just better than others,” Smith wrote before launching into the...

The electric vehicle of an unfortunate Washington, DC, tourist ran out of battery in the middle of a remote West Virginia road on Friday. Thankfully, a few unlikely good Samaritans were nearby to rescue the stranded traveler.

An electric vehicle needed some coal miners to get where it needed to go last week. The vehicle broke down Friday near Mettiki Coal access road on US 48, in Tucker County, West Virginia, according to WBOY-TV. A Facebook post from Randy Smith described the incident. Smith is a Republican state senator who represents the region where the incident took place, according to the West Virginia state Legislature website. He’s also the safety coordinator at Mettiki Coal, his Facebook page states. “Some days are just better than others,” Smith wrote before launching into the tale. “Today at our mine off...

China’s state-run Global Times on Friday harangued America and Europe for using coal power to make up for electricity shortfalls, even though China is building coal plants with wild abandon, digging up and importing mountains of coal to fuel them, and making it very clear that China’s industrial goals will not be compromised in any way to satisfy climate activists. There is a legitimate point to be made about the lunacy of Western societies spending billions on unreliable “green energy,” ruling out nuclear power for pseudo-religious environmentalist reasons, and then frantically turning back to dirty coal when solar panels and...

As many as half of British households may be facing fuel poverty because of the inexorable rise in energy prices, EDF, the French utility that also has business in the UK, has warned. .... The UK's energy market regulator Ofgem is set to announce the latest energy price cap this week, which will see electricity bills for millions of Britons rise considerably. The price cap, aimed to protect households from excessively high bills by capping the price increases that providers can pass on to them, normally gets adjusted twice a year. In April this year, the cap was raised by...

Sky News host Andrew Bolt says the Greta Thunberg cult has “gone bust”. “A mere child, full of rage, obsessed with doom, totally devoid of any practical solutions – but here she was lecturing the world on how to fuel their 21st century economies,” Mr Bolt said. “Thunberg is now a victim of her own success in scaring people into doing very, very stupid things that we're now paying for.”

Germany plans to postpone the closure of the country’s last three nuclear power plants as it braces for a possible shortage of energy this winter after Russia throttled gas supplies to the country, said German government officials. Mr. Scholz hinted at the decision last week, saying for the first time that it could make sense to keep Germany’s last three nuclear reactors online. Mothballed coal plants have already been brought back online to prevent energy blackouts after Russia slashed gas supplies in June, a decision that will complicate Berlin’s plans to cut greenhouse-gas emissions and reduce air pollution.

Thirteen tankers at heart of new ship-to-ship transhipment hub established mid-Atlantic to consolidate Russia-origin oil cargoes ... Evolving marine transport model seeks tankers to operate outside established markets, yet remain compliant with class, insurance and other regulatory and technical rules ... MYSTERY surrounds the identity of a China-based shipowner who has spent around $376m to acquire 13 tankers for deployment in high-risk, ship-to-ship transfers of Russia-origin crude in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Lloyd’s List has tracked five aframax tankers, seven very large crude carriers and one suezmax vessel to the anonymous buyer, via 20 separate but interconnected single-ship...