Prediction: Coal has fallen. Nuclear is next then Oil.

[mspohr]

"Self-committing" is the latest scam to keep expensive coal plants producing profits for utilities.

The Billion-Dollar Coal Bailout Nobody Is Talking About: Self-Committing In Power Markets

These plants are owned and operated by vertically-integrated utilities (companies that own their generation sources and directly serve retail customers in an area without alternative suppliers), who receive cost recovery for expenses related to these coal plants under regulatory approval outside of the market.

 

[mspohr]

Renewables set to outspend E&P in APAC

Renewables energy investment in Asia excluding China will overtake spending on upstream oil and gas projects in the region as soon as next year, according to Rystad Energy.

Total capital expenditure (capex) in renewables will overtake exploration and production (E&P) spending in 2020, with contributions from Australia and other Asian countries such as Vietnam, Taiwan and South Korea, Rystad Energy’s latest bottom-up analysis of investments shows.

 

[mspohr]

Nuclear waste is a difficult problem.
Nation’s most ambitious project to clean up nuclear weapons waste has stalled at Hanford

Everybody is just kicking this can down the road and hoping for a miracle solution.

 

[Brando]

Estimated clean up costs at Hanford started @ $10 billion next 20 years went to $165 billion by 2065 and now contractors are no doubt pushing for the $660 billion. Corruption no doubt helps drive up the taxpayer rip-off - BUT it really is an existential problem along with chemical pollution, destruction of forest, crop lands, oceans, antibiotics.

Fukushima I think is now $200 billion? and some outsiders think closer to $1 trillion. Not to worry, think of it as a jobs program.
Better than $1 trillion spending on upgrading US nuclear weapons, right? Of course google will find many articles on these topics.
Fukushima's Final Costs Will Approach A Trillion Dollars Just For Nuclear Disaster | CleanTechnica

Back ground - how storage started - the ocean dumping, of course.

Seems you must use NetFlix to watch "Into Eternity" Onkalo nuclear waste repository in Finland.
You might find on YouTube - it may have been removed? Netflix bought? anyway, a great documentary.

Interview with Michael Madsen, director of Into Eternity

Finland has built the best storage so far.

 

[Brando]

Sound track is ENGLISH.
Sub-Titles are not.

 

[mspohr]

Michael Bloomberg Promises $500 Million to Help End Coal Michael Bloomberg Promises $500 Million to Help End Coal
WASHINGTON — Michael R. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, will donate $500 million to a new campaign to close every coal-fired power plant in the United States and halt the growth of natural gas, his foundation said Thursday.

The new campaign, called Beyond Carbon, is designed to help eliminate coal by focusing on state and local governments. The effort will bypass Washington, where Mr. Bloomberg has said national action appears unlikely because of a divided Congress and a president who denies the established science of climate change.

“We’re in a race against time with climate change, and yet there is virtually no hope of bold federal action on this issue for at least another two years,” Mr. Bloomberg said in a statement. “Mother Nature is not waiting on our political calendar, and neither can we.

 

[mspohr]

'Change is coming': Al Gore says economics will break fossil fuel dinosaurs

Al Gore says Australia’s government, like his own, remains “in thrall to” the fossil fuel industry. But the former US vice-president has not lost hope, believing economic realities may ultimately force even the most obstinate of governments into creating policy capable of addressing the global climate emergency.

“Electricity from solar and wind continues to drop rapidly [in price] and no lobbyist is going to be able to change that. They can’t make coal clean and they can’t make renewables go away.

“So, they are kind of in the position of Wily E Coyote whose legs are moving furiously, even as he goes off the cliff, waiting for the pull of gravity to pull him down into the canyon below. That is an oft-used visual metaphor but it is appropriate here.”

“Electricity from solar farms in India is now significantly cheaper than electricity from coal, some of the leading business experts in India have said you would have to have your head examined if you invested in coal in India today, so I would just say again, I am not an expert, but I have read enough and learned enough to have serious questions about the economic feasibility of the project.”

“Sometimes, difficult transitions take more time than you think they will. But then they happen quicker than you thought they could. And I think both in the US and Australia, the carbon polluters have thrown so much money into their project to delay the recognition of reality, that they’re just about to run out their string.

 

[RubberToe]

Michael Bloomberg Promises $500 Million to Help End Coal Michael Bloomberg Promises $500 Million to Help End Coal
WASHINGTON — Michael R. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, will donate $500 million to a new campaign to close every coal-fired power plant in the United States and halt the growth of natural gas, his foundation said Thursday.

The new campaign, called Beyond Carbon, is designed to help eliminate coal by focusing on state and local governments. The effort will bypass Washington, where Mr. Bloomberg has said national action appears unlikely because of a divided Congress and a president who denies the established science of climate change.

“We’re in a race against time with climate change, and yet there is virtually no hope of bold federal action on this issue for at least another two years,” Mr. Bloomberg said in a statement. “Mother Nature is not waiting on our political calendar, and neither can we.

Very big news. Going to enjoy watching how this all unfolds. Going all in on closing the coal plants versus the federal administration trying to go the exact opposite direction.

Good that he is targeting gas too.

RT

 

[mspohr]

Germany’s three lignite mining regions

The beginning of the end of coal-fired power generation is imminent in Germany – a so-called 'coal exit commission' (or 'coal commission' for short) of government officials and lobbyists is to decide an end-date by the beginning of next year. Their even more difficult task will be to outline the future for those regions in Germany where many jobs and livelihoods depend on lignite (brown coal) mining and coal-fired power generation. This factsheet gives an overview of Germany's three active lignite mining regions, their history, and economic dependence on coal.

 

[mspohr]

https://www.pri.org/stories/2018-06-18/england-built-empire-out-coal-now-it-s-giving-it-why-can-t-us

The UK built an empire out of coal. Now it's giving it up. It's pledged to stop burning coal for electricity by 2025. How did this happen in Britain at a time when leaders in the US are promising to end the "war on coal"? The answer lies not in technological innovation, but in a profound cultural shift that began decades ago in coal field communities across England

 

[xfea]

We've witnessed almost a complete collapse of the coal industry. Companies that once commanded Billions in Market Value just 5 year ago have been reduced to Bankrupt shells. Things can change very quickly when inflection points are reached.

Nuclear and Coal share the same base load profile. The one thing nuclear advocates are pushing to save nuclear 'A Carbon Tax' will also promote its poison; Variable Wind and Solar. If their growth continues we could see significant nuclear curtailment in less than 5 years. Plants with a capacity factor of >90% are running razor thin margins. They can't survive even modest curtailment.

As Bloomberg pointed out a few weeks ago... EVs are poised to lower demand enough to cause a permanent collapse in the price of oil by ~2022. As more countries pledge to ban petrol powered cars in the next 15 years and Tesla has accelerated production plans this appears to be almost inevitable.

What flavor Kool-Aid do you drink?
Total world electricity generation is
41% coal/peat
22% natural gas
4% oil

Coal is by far the most efficient.
It's also 100% natural and organic.
Come to think of it - all of mother natures bounty of hydrocarbons is 100% natural and organic.
Oil percolates into the oceans and onto the surface all over the world -
It's organic liquid "Spring" hydrocarbon - renewable too!

 

[xfea]

Total primary energy supply of 13,699 mega-toe by source in 2014 (IEA, 2016)[14][9]:28

Oil (31.3%)
Coal/Peat/Shale (28.6%)
Natural Gas (21.2%)
Biofuels and waste (10.3%)
Hydro Electricity (2.4%)
Others (Renew.) (1.4%)
Nuclear (4.8%)

So over 81% of energy comes from natural organic hydrocarbons.

 

[Brando]

What flavor Kool-Aid do you drink?
Total world electricity generation is
41% coal/peat
22% natural gas
4% oil

Coal is by far the most efficient.
It's also 100% natural and organic.
Come to think of it - all of mother natures bounty of hydrocarbons is 100% natural and organic.
Oil percolates into the oceans and onto the surface all over the world -
It's organic liquid "Spring" hydrocarbon - renewable too!

Stranded Assets - times have changed.

Solar and Wind - cheaper than any thermal generation.
Cheaper than most any transmission system. Costs less to generate electricity than to transmit.
Li-Ion batteries vs Natural Gas turbines (peaker plants) which is cheaper? watch to learn

 

[nwdiver]

What flavor Kool-Aid do you drink?

Apparently that type that doesn't interfere with my understanding of words, numbers or physics

Nearly half of US coal is produced by companies that have declared bankruptcy — and Trump won’t fix that

How much carbon dioxide is produced when different fuels are burned?


Scientific Consensus: Earth's Climate is Warming

 

[xfea]

China is building a massive coal power plant every two weeks - and planning to continue for decades.

China’s power industry calls for hundreds of new coal power plants by 2030

Good news for all those clean TESLA'S running around!

 

[nwdiver]

China is building a massive coal power plant every two weeks - and planning to continue for decades.

China’s power industry calls for hundreds of new coal power plants by 2030

Good news for all those clean TESLA'S running around!

Also China...

 

[xfea]

Understanding of words numbers physics....
Hummmm
Hydrocarbons are the basic building blocks of the UNIVERSE.

Also China...

View attachment 417389

Powered by COAL.

 

[nwdiver]

Powered by COAL.

Less today than yesterday... less tomorrow than today

Hydrocarbons are the basic building blocks of the UNIVERSE.

Precisely... far too valuable to be burned for fuel. There's a reason they're also known as fools fuel as only a fool would burn then for fuel when there are so many more cost effective alternatives.

 

[xfea]

Over 81% of energy comes from natural organic hydrocarbons.

 

[nwdiver]

Over 81% of energy comes from natural organic hydrocarbons.

Less today than yesterday in most of the world... less tomorrow than today