The online German business daily Handelsblatt here writes that although Germany is pressing ahead to eliminate coal as a primary source of energy, the country ignores the fact that world is still very much in love with the plentiful and reliable fossil fuel source of energy.
Coal phaseout nowhere near in sight
And since Germany is well into phasing out nuclear power, the focus has switched to vilifying and shutting down coal-fired power plants and diesel vehicles – all in the name of stopping global warming and fine particle pollution.
Yet, the rest of the globe hardly shares Germany’s enthusiasm when it comes to transitioning to green energies. According to the Handelsblatt, “Worldwide the phasing out of coal is nowhere in sight.”
The Handelsblatt adds, “The 120 largest coal companies have around 1400 new power plants in planning or even under construction in 59 countries.”
1.5°C target will be missed by far
That would translate into the “currently installed capacity growing by a third,” the Handelsblatt writes.
Globally coal power continues to be added. According to environmental activist Heffa-Schücking: “We are going to greatly miss the target of limiting global warming to 1.5°C.”
Cheating China
Meanwhile some green activists have been trumpeting the claim that China in fact is halting the construction of coal power plants and aiming more and more to go green, parading China as a country whose example we need to follow.
However, qz.com here reports that this claim is likely a sham, and that many of these “halted” plants “are being built anyway”.
Citing CoalSwarm, a global network of researchers tracking fossil-fuel infrastructure, an analysis of satellite imagery as of July 2018 shows that the construction of some 75 plants “is still proceeding, despite the government orders”.
QZ.com reports:
China has been consuming as much as 17 percent more coal each year than reported, according to the new government figures. By some initial estimates, that could translate to almost a billion more tons of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere annually in recent years, more than all of Germany emits from fossil fuels.”
Clearly the German effort is not going lead the planet anywhere, except perhaps sending a signal about the economic and national security perils of going green.
Moreover, the Handelsblatt reports that China “is exporting coal technology on a grand scale to other countries as well. Currently they are involved in projects in 17 countries that have capacity of about 60 gigawatts.”
That amount to is equivalent to Germany’s total electric power demand.
via NoTricksZone
October 6, 2018 at 08:16AM
Iowa Climate Science Education 