Free Republic

Athens (AFP) – Greece's government said Thursday it plans to double production of lignite, or brown coal, in the coming two years despite the pollution it causes as Athens aims to reduce its dependence upon Russian gas. Greece depends upon Russia for 40 percent of its natural gas and since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February it has been searching for alternatives to ensure normal supplies. "Lignite is polluting and in normal circumstances, natural gas is cheaper," government spokesman Giannis Ekonomou said. But given the conflict in Ukraine and the needed to diversify energy supplies, Ekonomou said increased brown coal production...

No king, no parliament, no president, no legislature can repeal the law of unintended consequence. Russia’s war with Ukraine, and the cut-off of oil and natural gas to Western Europe, have brought coal back to power plant furnaces across Europe. This week, the Netherlands, Germany, and Austria all moved to reignite coal power. Gone are environmental regulations and restrictions. For example, the Netherlands had previously limited coal to only one-third of its full capacity. The party of green, so closely aligned with the left in the United States, may see a defeat on both fronts. Right now it looks likely...

Austria, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands announced plans this week to prepare to resurrect old coal plants as gas supplies dwindled. The moves came just days after Moscow reduced natural gas flows to several European countries, including Italy and Slovakia, alarming leaders who are worried about energy reserves ahead of winter. That’s not the direction in which these government wanted to move. A return to coal would controvert climate policy already in place in Amsterdam and Berlin. Some officials are concerned about the longer-term threat such a move would post to efforts to fight climate change in Europe. “We have...

Gazprom, the state-controlled Russian energy company, cut natural gas flows through the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany by around 60% last week. The German economy ministry said on Sunday that idle coal power plants are already being upgraded so they can soon start generating electricity again. It said emergency laws would allow Germany to boost the generation of electricity from coal. Germany said it intends to cut the use of natural gas so it can fill its storage tanks ahead of the winter, when demand rises. "The situation is serious," Habeck, who is also vice chancellor, said. "We are therefore...

If you think the world is moving beyond coal, think again. The post-Covid economic rebound and surging electricity demand have resulted in big increases in coal prices and coal demand. Since January, the Newcastle benchmark price for coal has doubled. And over the past few weeks, China and India have announced plans to increase their domestic coal production by a combined total of 700 million tons per year. For perspective, US coal production this year will total about 600 million tons. The surge in coal demand in China and India – as well as in the U.S., where coal use...

I just went to buy some lumber. The price has come down about 40% in two weeks. Yes, lumber is crashing even though everything else is going through the roof. Demand is starting to evaporate. Buckle up.

BERLIN (AP) — Officials from the Group of Seven wealthy nations announced Friday that they will aim to largely end greenhouse gas emissions from their power sectors by 2035, making it highly unlikely that those countries will burn coal for electricity beyond that date. Ministers from the G-7 countries meeting in Berlin also announced a target to have a “highly decarbonized road sector by 2030,” meaning that electric vehicles would dominate new car sales by the end of the decade. And in a move aimed at ending the recurring conflict between rich and poor nations during international climate talks, the...

U.N. chief Antonio Guterres on Wednesday called for an end to oil, gas, and coal use in favor of renewable sources as part of a self-described global climate Marshall Plan. The veteran Portuguese Socialist spoke ahead of the upcoming World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, which has already issued its own call for net-zero carbon emissions to be driven by a wider embrace of solar and wind power sources without delay.

Northern Indiana’s electric utility will delay the phaseout of a major coal plant due to the uncertainty created by a federal investigation into solar panel part manufacturers, the utility’s parent company said this week. In an earnings report for the first quarter of 2022, NiSource, the parent company of the Northern Indiana Public Service Company, said the ongoing Commerce Department investigation has created “uncertainty and delays” in the solar panel industry.

BEIJING (AP) — China is promoting coal-fired power as the ruling Communist Party tries to revive a sluggish economy, prompting warnings Beijing is setting back efforts to cut climate-changing carbon emissions from the biggest global source. Official plans call for boosting coal production capacity by 300 million tons this year, according to news reports. That is equal to 7% of last year’s output of 4.1 billion tons, which was an increase of 5.7% over 2020. China is one of the biggest investors in wind and solar, but jittery leaders called for more coal-fired power after economic growth plunged last year...

Michigan’s effort to end coal production and replace it with solar energy is being aided by a woke public utility that has agreed to stop its use by 2025, this despite the state’s abundant energy resources, including coal, natural gas, and nuclear. Attorney General Dana Nessel announced an agreement between the state and Consumers Energy Company, which says on its website that it provides natural gas and electricity to 6.6 million of Michigan’s 10 million residents.

NOTE: A hat tip to my friend Leo in NJ for this. He got it from somebody else. Spread the word. How many coal fired power plants are there in the world today? Green New Deal? Just look at this... The EU has 468 - building 27 more... Total 495 Turkey has 56 - building 93 more... Total 149 South Africa has 79 - building 24 more... Total 103 India (thanks) has 589 - building 446 more... Total 1035 Philippines has 19 - building 60 more... Total 79 South Korea has 58 - building 26 more... Total 84 Japan has...

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — U.S. officials improperly downplayed the climate change effects from burning coal when they approved a large expansion of an underground Montana coal mine that would release an estimated 190 million tons of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, a court ruled. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in a 2-1 ruling that Interior Department officials “hid the ball” during the Trump administration, by failing to fully account for emissions from burning the fuel in a 2018 environmental analysis. A judge previously ruled against the disputed expansion of Signal Peak Energy’s Bull Mountain mine in 2017,...

Not to be outdone by tiny Lithuania (which claims to have officially weaned itself off Russian gas imports by building an LNG terminal), the European Commission has devised a controversial proposal to ban imports of Russian coal, along with a host of other measures comprising a new sanctions package to be introduced on Tuesday, according to reports from WSJ, Reuters and a host of other media outlets. Along with banning imports of Russian coal, the package also calls for an import ban on rubber, chemicals and other products from Russia worth up to €9 billion a year. If passed, the...

On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” host Bill Maher argued that when people try to get off fossil fuels before there is a replacement ready, “they wind up going back to even worse fossil fuels.” And that this has happened in the United States and President Joe Biden going to Saudi Arabia “hat in hand, begging them for oil” after vowing to reduce oil drilling is an example of that. After citing Biden’s pledge to end drilling on federal lands, Maher stated, “Let’s just talk about why these things really happen, it’s because people think that they can —...

At Greece's largest coal mine, controlled explosions and the roar of giant excavators scooping up blasted rock have once again become routine. Coal production has been ramped up at the site near the northern Greek city of Kozani as the war in Ukraine forced many European nations to rethink their energy supplies. Coal, long treated as a legacy fuel in Europe, is now helping the continent safeguard its power supply and cope with the dramatic rise in natural gas prices caused by the war. Electricity generated by coal in the European Union jumped by 19% in the fourth quarter of...

Germany took emergency measures on June 19, 2022 to secure its energy supply in the face of recent drops in Russian gas deliveries, including a “bitter” use of the most polluting energy, coal. BERLIN—Germany will restart coal-fired power plants and offer incentives for companies to curb natural gas consumption, marking a new step in the economic war between Europe and Russia. Berlin unveiled the measures Sunday after Russia cut gas supplies to Europe last week as it punched back against European sanctions and military support for Ukraine. The steps, part of a broader strategy initiated after the invasion of Ukraine,...

A retired Russian colonel tasked with carrying President Vladimir Putin’s nuclear codes remains hospitalized after he was found shot at his home near Moscow. Vadim Zimin, 53, is “gravely ill” and in intensive care after his brother found him in a pool of blood on Monday, according to media reports. The retired colonel of Russia’s Federal Security Service — formerly known as the KGB during the Soviet era — had been in charge of the briefcase carrying the country’s nuclear codes. It always accompanies the Kremlin leader. He also carried the nuclear briefcase as an aide to former Russian President...