Al Gore must have been a naughty boy in 2023, for this year Santa filled his stocking with coal. Al flew away from the COP 28, the climate conference in Dubai, extremely angry at the outcome, at one point calling it the “biggest failure in history.” It’s not surprising that Angry Al was so disappointed, for on the final day of the meeting, the conference did not call for an outright phasing out of oil, gas, and coal. In fact, the word "oil" does not appear anywhere in the 21-page document, and "Fossil fuels" appears only twice.
President Biden’s view was vastly different than Al’s, and it was much more upbeat; for he heralded the agreement as "another historic milestone." Indeed, John Kerry, special presidential envoy on climate matters, happily announced that the United States had officially joined a coalition of 56 other countries who all plan to ditch coal, and that the United States has "proudly" committed to not to build any new coal plants and to get rid of existing ones entirely.
If you are a coal miner in the United States, you’re not likely so pleased at the prospect of losing your job; but on the other hand, as President Biden once aloofly proclaimed, the miners can always “learn computer programming.” More broadly, it’s also not very good news for ordinary citizens, especially the poor and middle class. PJM Interconnection, which coordinates the movement of wholesale electricity in all or parts of 13 states and the District of Columbia, serves 65 million consumers. Recently, it repeated its warning that the looming shutdown of a coal-fired power plant in Baltimore will threaten the region's grid reliability and may have devastating impacts on consumers.
The negative aspects of Biden’s coal policy don’t seem to matter to Joe, John and Al; and they are getting their wish, in that coal use in the West is falling. However, it doesn’t really matter, for the rest of the world is definitely not following the US’ lead. We note that China, India, and Indonesia didn’t sign the agreement to triple renewables.
Angry Al shouldn’t have been so surprised at the outcome of the conference. One month before the COP commenced, India’s Power Minister, R.K. Singh predicted “There is going to be pressure on nations at COP-28 to reduce coal usage. We are not going to do this… we are not going to compromise on availability of power for our growth, even if it requires that we add coal-based capacity”. In fact, India plans to increase coal production by 60% by 2030, from its current level of 1 billion tons, to ensure ample supply for its thermal power plants.
This insistence on affordable coal-based power for economic growth is not unique to India. Other large developing countries such as China, Indonesia, South Africa and Vietnam all have similar plans to ramp up coal power plant construction. China is the world’s new king of coal, and it has continued its building spree of coal power plants. It permitted two new coal power plants per week in 2022 and has six times more coal-fired power plants under construction currently than the rest of the world combined.
It should be obvious to all that it really does not matter what the United States plans to do. The U.S. currently operates about 205,000 MW of coal-fired power plants. Even if all these plants were closed overnight, it would be quickly replaced by 204,000 megawatts of new coal-fired capacity is now under construction around the world (67% of which is in China). In addition to the huge amount now being built, another 353,000 MW of coal-fired capacity has been announced, pre-permitted, or permitted. Of that 353,000 MW in the queue, about 72% is in China.
So, is the world doomed to rising sea waters that will swallow islands and swamp the coastlines of the seven continents? In our last article Zoom, we outlined the reasons we are skeptical about the “science” underlying the doomsday scenarios painted by some environmental activists. Frankly, we’d be more impressed if certain world leaders would start to practice what they preach! Al Gore, for instance, could spend more time communicating via phone and computer, instead of jetting all over the world on carbon spewing, private planes. And if the rising oceans are such a threat to humanity, why would former President Obama spend $15 million to purchase a home on the island of Martha’s Vineyard? Isn’t he afraid that his beautiful home will soon be covered by rising sea levels?
It’s our opinion that, instead of rushing to a carbon neutral world by 2030, we need a more balanced approach that would take into more consideration of real world energy needs and lessen the financial burden of the poor and marginalized. We agree with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s chairman, Willie Phillips, who told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in May, “We face unprecedented challenges to the reliability of our nation’s electric system.”
It’s our belief that solar and wind power are not up to the task of providing for all our energy needs, and that coal, natural gas and oil will continue to play a large part of our future.
Comentarios