Did Europe Just Bid Olde King Coal Adieu?

Tough vote today by EU Parliament limits new power plants without carbon capture and storage: essentially bringing to an end the long reign of Olde King Coal.

Our carbon footprint in California is just 11 tons. That is not because we are more virtuous than the rest of America, with its 22 ton footprint. We are just blessed with legislation that has effectively outlawed coal as a significant portion of our electricity supply. So our carbon footprint is half that of the rest of America.

Now Europe is following in California's lead on coal plants. Members of the EU Parliament voted today for tough regulations which would force energy companies to fit expensive equipment to trap the emissions.

This makes coal plants more expensive than wind (twice) and solar and even geothermal power. So actually, this kills plans for a whole new generation of heavily polluting coal-fired power stations.

The new carbon dioxide emissions limit set by the European Parliament environment committee is the same as that set by California: no more than 500 grams of CO2 per kilowatt per hour.

They also voted for a €10 billion dollar fund to pay for trials of clean coal technology: carbon capture and storage or CCS, which could trap most emissions. This could enable some coal stations to be built, using the EU funds to pay for the massive expected costs.

While carbon capture addresses the climate change problems of burning coal, it does nothing about the environmental hazards caused by mining coal, and even CCS supporters admit that it would not be available at commercial scale until 2020 at the earliest.

As John Sauven, the executive director of Greenpeace said: "Emissions performance standards have already worked to stop new coal-fired power stations in California, and it's a welcome development that Europe is adopting a similar principle here."

For Matter Network

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Unsold Coal Is Piling Up In China's Harbors

Worldwide slump apparently reducing demand for the fossil fuel.

An official with Qinhuangdao harbor in China said Friday that the northern China harbor (the largest in the country) has a coal pileup that is increasing by 100,000 tons a day, according to China Daily.

By mid-September, Qinhuangdao's coal stockpile stood at more than 8 million tons: 3 million tons more than regular levels. In the past two weeks, the surplus has started to build daily.

Coal storage levels at Qinhuangdao, the largest in the country, act as a barometer of the coal market across China, rising with reduced demand, shrinking when demand is greater than supply.

The anonymous official warned that the maximum pileup the harbor could accommodate was 10 million tons.

The surplus is caused by a drop in demand for exports and for local use. According to the China Electricity Council, major consumption regions where coal is used in electric-power generation are also reporting increasing surpluses.

One such harbor, the Guangzhou harbor in southern China had more than 2 million excess tons of coal, as of September 17. Coal trading has dropped 25 percent, according to the Guangzhou Port Group. Trading volume has decreased since July, with a monthly turnover of only 3 million tons. The group was turning over 4 million tons as recently as May and June.

Coal is also piling up at major coal power stations.

The China Electricity Council reports that its coal pileup was about 19 million tons in July, enough to meet a 10-day demand. But by the beginning of September, the excess increased to more than 29 million tons.

Restricted production during the Olympics and a cooler, rainy summer reduced Chinese demand for power said Wang Ling, a coal analyst with the United Metal Web. In addition, abundant rainfall meant more was electricity generated by hydro-power plants.

But the mounting coal pileup was primarily seen as caused by lower demand, with most of the drop-off caused by global economic conditions, according to industry observers.

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XCEL Dumps Dirty Power For Wind & Solar

Some good news today for those of us who breathe. The 4th largest power company in the US is replacing two coal plants with 1000 megawatts of wind and solar power.

In a move exemplified by its recent coal plant smokestack demolition shown in Minnesota, XCEL has decided to retire two dirty coal power plants in Colorado, for its first utility scale solar concentrating powerplant and 850 megawatts of wind power.

XCEL is the 4th biggest electricity company in the US, and 60% of that has been coal fired electricity.

The power swap will be in Colorado, where the Democratic National Convention is being held this week. Colorado is an interestingly Brown/Green energy state where the possibility of scraping up the state for oil shale vies with new green energy sources. The Danish wind giant Vestas - which is in the incredibly fortunate position of having a $10 Billion dollar backlog of wind turbine orders is bringing a new wind turbine building plant to the state.

Interestingly, XCEL is not a member of USCAP the forward thinking climate change prevention group, as is PG&E and other greener utilities and corporations. In fact, when Colorado passed their first Renewable Portfolio Standard of 10% by 2015, XCEL dragged their heels. But it discovered in the process of complying that it wasn't that difficult: they hit their target in 2007. Now they support the current 20% by 2020 target.

The Washington Post attributes XCELs decision in part to the production tax credits wind farms have had:

Once Xcel executives began to come to terms with the new rules, they discovered that federal tax credits made wind power affordable

Any new plant is going to be much more expensive to build than keeping an old one you already have on the books chugging along. So the PTC makes it affordable to build new green power plants.

However, as they do every few years, these production tax credits expire at the end of this year. Unfortunately, thanks in large part to swingvoter John McCain 'vetoing' cloture votes each time the Democrats have attempted to extend PTCs, this year they could fail to be renewed.

With the Democrats in Colorado at their convention this week getting some media time, this would be a good time for them to publicize the good that the PTC has done. While Clinton had offered the ideal plan with a permanent PTC, Obama offers a 5 year extension of the PTC in his plan. Obama is by far the greenest presidential contender. McCain has no plan posted and the voting record to back it up.


From SolveClimate
Photo by flikr user Bree R

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Are Coal Prices Next?

Appalachian Coal Prices Hit $140 Per Ton

When the farsighted French Wind Financier Jerome Guillet started his predictive series countdown to $100 oil, I found it curious that gas prices at the pump did not initially reflect the rising oil prices. As oil prices kept creeping up, doubling the $30 a barrel prices we had grown used to, to surpass $60 and even $70 a barrel, prices at the pump remained strangely unresponsive.

But there did come a tipping point. Gas prices at the pump finally reflected the ever increasing oil prices, and then interesting things happened: - SUV resale values plummeted $8000 in 6 months, US automakers retooled to build cars instead of trucks, Mini Cooper inventories shrank to one-day supplies on the lot and the US accident rate dropped 9% as Americans sharply curtailed their driving habits.

Now, international pressures have pushed coal prices to a record-breaking $140 a ton.

I wonder... at what point in the next few years will rising electricity costs yield similarly interesting changes in our behavior?

Could the other 6 billion electricity consumers competing for our electricity supply change what Al Gore couldn't?

Might it simply become normal behavior to protect our own electricity supply? Just as responsible parents buy insurance to protect our families' futures, might it simply become the normal, responsible thing to do to ensure the family electricity supply by finally putting up that solar roof?

Appalachian Coal Prices Hit $140 Per Ton
From Appalachian Voices Front Porch Blog and the EIA

Other Sources
SUV Resale Rates Plummet $8000 in 6 Months
US Automaker Retools To Build Cars Instead Of Trucks
Mini Coopers Hit One Day Supply in July
Vehicle Accident Death Rate Drops 9%
82% of US Consumers Driving Less In Response To High Gas Prices Read more...

Obama On Coal To Gas Synfuel - WRONG!

Since Republicans don't believe in Science, global warming doesn't faze them. They love Synfuels. But Obama?

Its bad enough, where gas is taking us:

NASA Says US Temperatures To Rise 10 Degrees By 2080

This maps per decade temperature rise:
1 degree Centigrade = nearly 2 degrees Fahrenheit EVERY DECADE!


For instance my state, California = + .04 C therefor it will be 9 degrees hotter by 2100

A President could reverse this! NOT take us twice as fast to Armagedden.

What will a few degrees do to us?

Mark Lynas:

Six Degrees: our future on a hotter planet

The planet has been here before. Geologists have discovered that at the end of the Permian period, 251 million years ago, the world warmed rapidly by six degrees. It was the worst crisis ever endured by life on earth, "the closest this planet has come to losing its wonderful living biosphere entirely and ending up a dead and desolate rock in space". The earth was racked by "hypercanes" - hurricanes so strong they even left their mark on the ocean floor. Oxygen levels in the atmosphere plunged to 15 per cent - low enough to leave any fast-moving animal gasping for breath.

Think your kids will survive a toasty planet?

The only survivors were a few shelled creatures in the oceans, and a pig-like creature that had the land to itself for millions of years. (Whoever thought geological findings could give you nightmares?)

At a hearing recently Barbara Boxer repeatedly berated -the Bushappointed crony- Ann Klee from the EPA for "assigning a zero value to CO2!" March 6 Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing on CAFE standards. You can listen to the hearing here Her discussion about carbon dioxide is at 1:25:40. 1:26:15 "Why on earth would you have assigned a zero benefit for reduction of carbon dioxide? I don't understand it."

Boxer has finally shamed the EPA into humoring her with this graphing of relative CO2 outputs for us -silly treehuggers- Democrats who care about scientific warnings. The Republicans don't think CO2 matters.

This is the real reason that Bush administrations EPA has been assigning a zero value to the evaluating the cost of emitting CO2. If you line up the pros and cons of making synfuel, and simply leave out the minor disadvantage of adding more greenhouse gases, then it might not seem so dumb. It meets the only requirement Republicans seem to have, that it gets us off foreign oil.

Republicans care about their kids safety, just like we do, yet they drive SUVs. They want their kids to be safe from other SUVs so they buy bigger heavier SUVs, ensuring that other drivers will have to do the same. They don't accept climate science so they just don't believe that their kids will have to deal with this dangerous climate as a result of their driving choice.

So I don't blame them as much for wanting Synfuels. They have been propogandised into ignorance. But Obama is a member of our evidence-based community. He should know better.

I do think he can be persuaded to know what's the right thing to do, because of two changes he has made:

1. He recently changed his support for the nuke friendly Lieberman/MCain climate change bill to the real deal: the Boxer Bill, that will reduce CO2 80% below 1990 levels by 2050, in a steady consistent 1% per year.

2. He supports The CLEAR ACT to subsidise electric vehicles which is still under consideration, not a bill yet...so thank him for this!

It is wrong for Obama (who has little kids) to be as dumb as a Republican in support of Synfuels. Please, all you Obama supporters: please contact him and beg him to change his support to one befitting a thinking being who wants our species to survive.

Six Degrees will make some readers want to sink into survivalism, but Lynas wisely warns: "Getting depressed about the situation now is like sitting inert in your living room and watching the kitchen catch fire, and then getting more and more miserable as the fire spreads throughout the house - rather than grabbing an extinguisher and dousing the flames."

Calling the congress switchboard is the easiest way to put you through to any of them. Tell them that Coal to Liquid Synfuels makes CO2 worse! (202) 224 3121

Dinosaurs survived a long time on this planet. At this point in history, certain legislation in this country will actually make or break our own species chances of survival. It really is worth a call.
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UPDATE JUNE !13TH
Obama switches his vote to side with us human beings against extinction and abandons Senator Inohofe's coal to lquids bill:

THANK YOU OBAMA! I like a candidate who listens to reason!

Heres the squeals of horror from Inohofe at the traitors!

VOTE AGAINST COAL-TO-LIQUIDS EXPOSES SENATOR’S TRUE POSITION
June 13, 2007


WASHINGTON, DC – Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, today blasted Senators who have previously claimed their support for coal-to-liquids, who today voted against an amendment that sought to improve the permitting process for the construction of coal-to-liquids facilities.

Those Senators include:

A big dailykos thankyou to our prodigal sons and daughter!

Obama (D-IL); Baucus (D-MT); Tester (D-MT); Landrieu (D-LA); Salazar (D-CO); Conrad (D-ND); Dorgan (D-ND); Byrd (D-WV); Rockefeller (D-WV).

KUDOS TO EVERYONE WHO VOTED RIGHT!
Akaka (D-HI), Nay
Alexander (R-TN), Yea
Allard (R-CO), Yea
Baucus (D-MT), Nay
Bayh (D-IN), Nay
Bennett (R-UT), Yea
Biden (D-DE), Nay
Bingaman (D-NM), Nay
Bond (R-MO), Yea
Boxer (D-CA), Nay
Brown (D-OH), Nay
Brownback (R-KS), Yea
Bunning (R-KY), Yea
Burr (R-NC), Yea
Byrd (D-WV), Nay
Cantwell (D-WA), Nay
Cardin (D-MD), Nay
Carper (D-DE), Nay
Casey (D-PA), Nay
Chambliss (R-GA), Yea
Clinton (D-NY), Nay
Coburn (R-OK), Not Voting
Cochran (R-MS), Yea
Coleman (R-MN), Yea
Collins (R-ME), Nay
Conrad (D-ND), Nay
Corker (R-TN), Yea
Cornyn (R-TX), Yea
Craig (R-ID), Yea
Crapo (R-ID), Yea
DeMint (R-SC), Yea
Dodd (D-CT), Nay
Dole (R-NC), Yea
Domenici (R-NM), Yea
Dorgan (D-ND), Nay
Durbin (D-IL), Nay
Ensign (R-NV), Yea
Enzi (R-WY), Yea
Feingold (D-WI), Nay
Feinstein (D-CA), Nay
Graham (R-SC), Yea
Grassley (R-IA), Yea
Gregg (R-NH), Yea
Hagel (R-NE), Not Voting
Harkin (D-IA), Nay
Hatch (R-UT), Yea
Hutchison (R-TX), Yea
Inhofe (R-OK), Yea
Inouye (D-HI), Nay
Isakson (R-GA), Yea
Johnson (D-SD), Not Voting
Kennedy (D-MA), Nay
Kerry (D-MA), Nay
Klobuchar (D-MN), Nay
Kohl (D-WI), Nay
Kyl (R-AZ), Yea
Landrieu (D-LA), Nay
Lautenberg (D-NJ), Nay
Leahy (D-VT), Nay
Levin (D-MI), Nay
Lieberman (ID-CT), Nay
Lincoln (D-AR), Nay
Lott (R-MS), Yea
Lugar (R-IN), Yea
Martinez (R-FL), Yea
McCain (R-AZ), Not Voting
McCaskill (D-MO), Nay
McConnell (R-KY), Yea
Menendez (D-NJ), Nay
Mikulski (D-MD), Nay
Murkowski (R-AK), Yea
Murray (D-WA), Nay
Nelson (D-FL), Nay
Nelson (D-NE), Nay
Obama (D-IL), Nay
Pryor (D-AR), Nay
Reed (D-RI), Nay
Reid (D-NV), Nay
Roberts (R-KS), Yea
Rockefeller (D-WV), Nay
Salazar (D-CO), Nay
Sanders (I-VT), Nay
Schumer (D-NY), Nay
Sessions (R-AL), Yea
Shelby (R-AL), Yea
Smith (R-OR), Yea
Snowe (R-ME), Nay
Specter (R-PA), Yea
Stabenow (D-MI), Nay
Stevens (R-AK), Yea
Sununu (R-NH), Yea
Tester (D-MT), Nay
Thune (R-SD), Yea
Vitter (R-LA), Yea
Voinovich (R-OH), Yea
Warner (R-VA), Yea
Webb (D-VA), Nay
Whitehouse (D-RI), Nay
Wyden (D-OR), Nay

Crossposted from dailykos May 2007 Read more...