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U.S. coal exports fall on lower European demand, increased global supply

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, based on U.S. Census Bureau data Republished October 3, 2014, 12:35 p.m., to clarify graph units. U.S. coal exports have continued to decline from their record volumes in 2012. During the first half of 2014, coal exports totaled 52.3 million short tons (MMst), 16% below the same period in 2013. Most of these exports go to countries in Europe and Asia. Export declines reflect both lower European demand for steam coal and increased steam coal supply from Australia and Indonesia. Metallurgical coal supply from Australia, Canada, and Russia has also increased. These factors have led to a cumulative decline of 9.0 MMst in coal exports to Europe and Asia during the first half of 2014. Coal exports fall into two categories: metallurgical coal, which is used in the production of steel, and steam coal, which is commonly used to fuel boilers that generate steam […]

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Merkel’s Taste for Coal to Upset $130 Billion Green Drive

When Germany kicked off its journey toward a system harnessing energy from wind and sun back in 2000, the goal was to protect the environment and build out climate-friendly power generation. More than a decade later, Europe ’s biggest economy is on course to miss its 2020 climate targets and greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants are virtually unchanged. Germany used coal, the dirtiest fuel, to generate 45 percent of its power last year, the highest level since 2007, as Chancellor Angela Merkel is phasing out nuclear in the wake of the Fukushima atomic accident in Japan three years ago. The transition, dubbed the Energiewende, has so far added more than 100 billion euros ($134 billion) to the power bills of households, shop owners and small factories as renewable energy met a record 25 percent of demand last year. RWE AG, the nation’s biggest power producer, last year reported its […]

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Meet the Biggest Polluter in China’s Most Polluted City

Xingtai, a coal-mining hub home to 7.6 million people, has the worst air quality of any Chinese city. Last year, it only had 38 days when air quality met national standards. XINGTAI, China—It’s the heaviest polluter in the dirtiest city in China. Jizhong Energy Resources Co. operates six large coal mines and dozens of related facilities in this gray industrial center, which government data show has the worst air quality of any Chinese town. Five of the facilities are on a national list of top air polluters, and eight are on the Xingtai government’s list, more than any other company here. Now, Jizhong is moving to clean itself up, reflecting the balancing act taking place across China as regional governments and businesses try to tackle runaway pollution without wrecking local economies. The government is under rising pressure from China’s rapidly emerging middle class to address the country’s degraded air, […]

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China Bans Use of Coal With High Ash or Sulfur to Fight Smog

China will ban sales and imports of coal with high ash or sulfur in a move to promote cleaner types of the fuel and improve the nation’s air quality. Coal with ash content of more than 40 percent and sulfur of more than 3 percent is banned from sales and imports into China starting Jan. 1, according to a regulation posted on the website of the National Development and Reform Commission yesterday. Lignite containing ash of more than 30 percent and sulfur of more than 1.5 percent is also prohibited. Other limitations involve coal with chemical content such as mercury and arsenic. China, the world’s largest consumer of coal, is restricting the dirtiest grades to fight pollution. It will encourage imports of higher-quality supplies after smog worsened in Shanghai and Beijing and sparked social unrest in Maoming and Hangzhou. The nation depends on coal for about 65 percent of […]

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Coal-fired power generation in US revised lower for 2014-2015: EIA

The US Energy Information Administration Tuesday lowered its estimates for coal-fired electricity generation in 2014-2015, while natural gas and renewables were revised higher. The EIA’s updated forecasts were included in its September Short Term Energy Outlook. Coal-fired electricity generation for all sectors, including residential, commercial, and industrial, was revised 0.8% lower to 4.502 million MWh/d from 4.541 million MWh/d in 2014, and 0.6% lower to 4.374 million MWh/d from 4.398 million MWh/d in 2015. Natural gas-fired generation was revised 0.4% higher to 2.995 million MWh/d in 2014, and 0.3% higher to 3.112 MWh/d in 2015. "Other renewables" generation, which includes wind, biomass, geothermal, and solar generation, was taken 1% higher to 759,000 MWh/d in 2014, and raised 0.9% higher to 811,000 MWh/d in 2015. ONLY TWO COAL PLANTS TO COME ONLINE IN 2014 According to preliminary data, power generators added 4.35 GW of new capacity during the first half […]

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US coal fundamentals weak, natural gas demand to increase in 2015: Barclays

Investment bank Barclays Tuesday said most market participants believe it will be another year before any improvement is seen in the seaborne metallurgical coal market, while the bank expects US natural gas demand to pick up "significantly" in 2015 as a number of coal-fired power plants are shuttered. Barclays detailed its near-term outlook for the US coal and natural gas markets in its Global Energy Outlook for August. Fixed income analyst Matthew Vittorioso said US coal companies are a challenging place to find value due in part to weak met and thermal coal prices. "The spot price for top quality metallurgical (met) coal has been stuck down at $110-115/[mt] for a couple of quarters now and most market participants think it will be another year before things start to improve," Vittorioso said. Article continues below… Platts Coal Trader provides the latest prices for key benchmark coals, as well as: […]

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The Time for Burning Coal Has Passed

Active Citizens , Active Citizens , Civil Society , Climate Change , Editors’ Choice , Energy , Environment , Europe , Featured , Headlines , Natural Resources , Projects , TerraViva United Nations Anti-coal human chain crossing the Niesse river which separates Poland and Germany, August 2014. Credit: Courtesy of Greenpeace Poland GRABICE, Poland / PROSCHIM, Germany, Aug 26 2014 (IPS) – “People have gathered here to tell their politicians that the way in which we used energy and our environment in the 19th and 20th centuries is now over,” says Radek Gawlik, one of Poland’s most experienced environmental activists. “The time for burning coal has passed and the sooner we understand this, the better it is for us.” Gawlik was one of over 7,500 people who joined an 8-kilometre-long human chain at the weekend linking the German village of Kerkwitz with the Polish village of Grabice to oppose […]

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Dirtiest Fuel Threatens 700-Year-Old Villages in Europe

Europe’s energy dilemma — burning the dirtiest coal while meeting pollution targets — is crystallizing in opposition to a plan that would uproot 700-year-old villages and dig two pits the size of Manhattan. PGE SA and Vattenfall AB , the Warsaw- and Stockholm-based utilities, want to tap Europe’s richest lignite deposit, along the German-Polish border. They’re opposed by communities already suffering sporadic sand storms and crumbling roads, in an area where the 12 kilometer (7.5 miles) long Jaenschwalde mine has dominated the landscape for three decades. Locals will form an 8-kilometer cross-border human chain on Aug. 23 in protest. The battle reflects the divide across Europe. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk sees coal, used to generate 90 percent of his nation’s power, as a way for Europe to depend less on Russian natural gas. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government calls lignite “the black gold” that will help smooth out […]

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Can an Economy Develop Without Coal?

While all fossil fuels are contributing to the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, coal stands apart as really problematic, not just because of its CO2 emissions today (see chart, global emissions in millions of tonnes CO2 vs. time), but because of the vast reserves waiting to be used and the tendency for an emerging economy to lock its energy system into it. Global energy emissions I recently came across data relating to the potential coal resource base in just one country, Botswana, which is estimated at some 200 billion tonnes. Current recoverable reserves are of course a fraction of this amount, but just for some perspective, 200 billion tonnes of coal once used would add well over 100 billion tonnes of carbon to the atmosphere and therefore shift the cumulative total from the current 580 billion tonnes carbon to nearly 700 billion tonnes carbon; and that is just from Botswana. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple