The death of coal is the largest and ugliest of three fossil fuel siblings, and has long been exaggerated in the Mark Twain style. [emphasis, links added]
Although oil and gas that took some time in the “energy transition,” dirty coal (responsible for soot, smoke and respiratory diseases) has exceeded decades in most developed Western countries.
The latest twist in this death story begins with guardian Last Monday's story. Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy Security, UK “Hope to work with China and developing countries to shape a new global axis against Donald Trump’s abandonment of green policies in the United States.”
Then, on Saturday, Daily Mail Reported Miliband “accepted that his solar panels were purchased for British schools and that the hospitals were Chinese and could be made from coal.”
Arrogance and irony leaps.
The birthplace of the coal and industrial revolution, once dominated 70% of the world's ocean waves, Britain closed its last coal factory last year. It ranks 22nd on the world's largest carbon dioxide emitter list, accounting for 0.8% of global emissions.
This pales compared to China’s No. 1, accounting for 34% of world emissions, while the second largest emitter in the United States is 12%.
Apparently, “Crazy Ed” with his climate leadership is stupid, still thinking that a purely illustrative example of net-zero “green” Britain will lead the world to abandon fossil fuels.
As my colleague Ben Pile said during a visit to Mr Miliband’s China: “Don’t make me laugh.” Among the frequently cited statistics, China builds an average of two coal power plants per week.
Meanwhile, in the latest signs that everything is not good in the climate policy consensus between the two major parties in the parliament, Conservative opposition Kemi Badenoch Net Zero cannot achieve “if our living standards drop severely or go bankrupt.”
Ironically, it is largely made of cheap Chinese coal, calling for a “green industrial revolution” with solar and wind panels, batteries and electric vehicles, which seems to be beyond Miliband's spiritual mastery.
Under the CCP's dictatorship, the dependence on China's imports seemed to be less concerned about him than the alternative. God forbids dependence on foreign oil and gas imports: prompts for “geopolitical shocks” and “whims of foreign tyrants.”
It doesn't matter, the UK's largest oil and gas suppliers are Norway, the United States and Qatar, since “climate leader” Great Britain has forbidden itself from utilizing its abundant household oil and gas resources in the North Sea and onshore locations.
But, aside from arrogance and irony, the coal’s exaggerated death narrative took a final turn last week. On the same day that the Guardian wrote about Miliband’s lofty goals in “anti-climate change”, President Trump came out in “the society of truth”:
One of Trump's best moves. Get energy independence/advantages to make Americans cheaper. Instant coal mine factory. This will benefit U.S. businesses and may lower the prices of other commodities. Clean, I don't care. This is very good. pic.twitter.com/ajz3obuprj
– dank Knight 🦇 (@capeandcowell) March 17, 2025
After years of captives of environmental extremists, madmen, activists and thugs, allowing other countries, especially China, to gain a huge economic advantage by opening hundreds of all coal fire power plants, I authorized my government to start producing energy immediately with beautiful, clean coal.
Coal did not die, rebirth
Coal is a source of dirty soot, smoke and bad respiratory health in urban areas, and is a classic western sunset industry. But local politics and swing countries are important in the U.S. elections, as failed President Hillary Clinton discovered her cost in 2017.
Her greatest regret, she claimed, was doubling former President Obama’s “coal war” and announced in her campaign that “we will shut down many coal miners and coal companies.”
At the national level, the projected surge in electricity demand driven by exponential growth in AI, data centers and cryptocurrency mining has become the center stage.
In a video interview with the ceraweek Energy meeting in Houston two weeks ago, U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the country should restart the shutdown of coal-fired power plants under President Donald Trump’s National Energy Jearmy Starmation:
“I think we have to keep every plant open as part of the national energy emergency declared by President Trump. If there are units closed for coal plants, we need to bring them back.”
In an email to Reuters, the Home Office said it was committed to “revitalizing the coal industry by reducing regulatory barriers and promoting energy independence.”
Secretary Bogum said, “We have to keep every coal-fired power plant open…. There is no energy transition besides adding energy… We need to avoid the mistake of deindustrialization in the UK and Germany… We need abundant, reliable, low-cost energy.”
…Sniper…
Coal takes back its throne
Coal is what physicists call “intensive” energy. Tesla batteries weigh more than 500 kg and require 25-50 tons (i.e. thousands of kilometers) of minerals to mine, process and transport.
However, the storage energy of Tesla batteries is equivalent to only 30 kilograms of coal. Of course, that pile of coal is cheap, versatile and easy to transport.
Tesla batteries only store power, you still have to get the electronics from elsewhere.
Unlike oil and gas, coal is a “non-political” fuel. This is the most abundant energy source in the world. Its deposits spread widely around the world, even if they are uneven.
Its largest exporter [ranked] It is Indonesia, Australia, Russia, the United States, Colombia and Canada. In Asia, China, India, Vietnam and Indonesia are one of the world's largest consumers of coal and its largest producers. They depend to a lot on their energy and national security.
Coal is often violated by the dirtiest fossil fuels, and is actually a success story of scientific advancement. Over the past few decades, with the development of efficient, low-emission plants, the major pollutants generated by coal combustion in power plants have dropped dramatically in technological improvements.
These fourth generation “super quality” plants greatly reduce the emission of pollutants that adversely affect human healthincluding carbon monoxide, lead, sulfur dioxide (98%), nitrogen oxides (83%), ground ozone and particulate matter (99.8%).
The main residual emission of coal power plants, carbon dioxide, is contrary to the common view, is not a pollutant. Indeed, this is crucial for plant growth and human life.
Consistent with President Trump’s speech on the cap of “beautiful, clean coal,” EPA administrator Lee Zeldin has asked the White House to allow permission to reverse the 2009 “hazardous hazard discovery” that allowed the EPA to regulate EPA to carbon dioxide as a “health threat” during the Obama and Biden years.
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