Coal Industry Fighting to be Included in Climate Talks

The global coal industry is trumpeting "cleaner coal" technology to fight bubbling competition from renewable energy, but the high costs of greener plants are proving a major obstacle in selling them to power-hungry countries such as India.

The challenges are highlighted by the experience of Japan - despite a concerted push by Tokyo to take a lead in exporting the technology, only 7 percent of the power stations built or planned since 2010 with funds from Tokyo's export credit agency were of the most energy-efficient type, according to data from a group of NGOs.

With world leaders due to meet in Paris from Monday to try to agree a deal to tackle climate change, the World Coal Association (WCA) is touting the use of very hot steam under extreme pressure to raise a power plant's efficiency, which it says can cut the greenhouse gases emitted from burning coal by up to 30 percent.

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"Coal Should Stay in the Ground:" Carbon Capture is an Epic Failure?

Serious flaws have been found in a decade's worth of studies about the best way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and stabilize the climate.

The findings, from the University of Michigan, are released as world leaders at COP21 attempt to negotiate the globe's first internationally binding climate agreement.

The U-M researchers have found that most economic analysis of carbon capture and storage, or CCS, technology for coal-fired power plants severely underestimates the technique's costs and overestimates its energy efficiency. CCS involves sucking carbon out of coal-fired power plants' flue gases, compressing it and then injecting it deep underground.

The new analysis puts the cost of reducing carbon emissions with CCS-equipped coal plants higher than any previous study -- and most importantly, higher than wind and comparable to solar power. It's the first study to confront the so-called 'energy loop' inherent in the CCS process.

Beyond a one-time 'energy penalty' these plants pay because they have to burn more coal to power devices that capture carbon, the researchers say the disadvantage compounds until fuel costs leap to four times today's accepted estimates.

"The conclusion is that renewables will be a cheaper alternative to reducing carbon emissions from coal, at least in the United States and likely globally," said Steve Skerlos, U-M professor of mechanical engineering, and civil and environmental engineering.

"To us, this means policymakers need to stop wasting time hoping for technological silver bullets to sustain the status quo in the electric sector and quickly accelerate the transition from coal to renewables, or possibly, natural gas power plants with CCS."

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Britain to Close Last Coal Power Plant by 2025

The UK's remaining coal-fired power stations will be shut by 2025 with their use restricted by 2023, Energy Secretary Amber Rudd has proposed.

Ms Rudd wants more gas-fired stations to be built since relying on "polluting" coal is "perverse".

Only if gas-fuelled power can fill the void created by closing coal-powered stations would coal plants be shut, she said.

Environmentalists are concerned little is being done to promote renewables.

Announcing the consultation, Ms Rudd said: "Frankly, it cannot be satisfactory for an advanced economy like the UK to be relying on polluting, carbon-intensive 50-year-old coal-fired power stations.

"Let me be clear: this is not the future.

"We need to build a new energy infrastructure, fit for the 21st century."

Former US vice president Al Gore, an active campaigner for clean energy, described the announcement as an "excellent and inspiring precedent".

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We're Doomed: Coal Demand Remains High in Asia, Preferred Over Natural Gas?

The shine is coming off once bright prospects for natural gas as the future fossil fuel of choice in Asia as power companies in India and Southeast Asia tap abundant and cheap domestic coal resources to generate electricity.

Asian loyalty to coal is shrinking the space available for natural gas just as supplies are ramping up after massive investments in U.S. and Australian output. Demand growth for natural gas is also slowing in top energy consumer China, further dampening the fuel's prospects.

While much attention has been given to a potential peak in China's coal demand and worries about emissions, in Asia alone this year power companies are building more than 500 coal-fired plants, with at least a thousand more on planning boards. Coal is not only cheaper than natural gas, it is often available locally and has no heavy import costs.

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Global Dust Clouds Present During the Permian

Coal derived rates of atmospheric dust deposition during the Permian

Authors:

Marshall et al

Abstract:

Despite widespread evidence for atmospheric dust deposition prior to the Quaternary, quantitative rate data remains sparse. As dust influences both climate and biological productivity, the absence of quantitative dust data limits the comprehensiveness of models of pre-Quaternary climate and biogeochemical cycles. Here, we propose that inorganic matter contained in coal primarily records atmospheric dust deposition. To test this, we use the average concentration of inorganic matter in Permian coal to map global patterns and deposition rates of atmospheric dust over Pangea. The dust accumulation rate is calculated assuming Permian peat carbon accumulation rates in temperate climates were similar to Holocene rates and accounting for the loss of carbon during coalification. Coal-derived rates vary from 0.02 to 25 g m- 2 yr- 1, values that fall within the present-day global range. A well constrained East-West pattern of dust deposition corresponding to expected palaeoclimate gradients extends across Gondwana with maximum dust deposition rates occurring close to arid regions. A similar pattern is partially defined over the northern hemisphere. Patterns are consistent with the presence of two large global dust plumes centred on the tropics. The spatial patterns of dust deposition also were compared to dust cycle simulations for the Permian made with the Community Climate System Model version 3 (CCSM3). Key differences between the simulations and the coal data are the lack of evidence for an Antarctic dust source, higher than expected dust deposition over N and S China and greater dust deposition rates over Western Gondwana. This new coal-based dust accumulation rate data expands the pre-Neogene quantitative record of atmospheric dust and can help to inform and validate models of global circulation and biogeochemical cycles over the past 350 Myr.

Siberian Traps may NOT have Burned Coal

Latest Permian chars may derive from wildfires, not coal combustion

Authors:

Hudspith et al

Abstract:

The Permian-Triassic boundary extinction event was the largest biological crisis of the Phanerozoic. One of the principle triggers for the mass extinction is thought to be greenhouse warming resulting from the release of CH4 from basalt-coal interaction during the extensive Siberian Traps (Russia) eruptions. Observations of organic matter interpreted to be coal combustion products (fly ash) in latest Permian marine sediments have been used to support this hypothesis. However, this interpretation is dependent upon vesicular chars being fly ash (coal combustion derived) and not formed by alternative mechanisms. Here we present reflectance microscopy images of vesicular chars from Russian Permian coals, and chars from modern tundra, peatland, and boreal forest fires, to demonstrate that despite a difference in precursor fuels, wildfires are capable of generating vesicular chars that are morphologically comparable to end-Permian fly ash. These observations, coupled with extensive global evidence of wildfires during this time interval, call into question the contribution of coal combustion to the end-Permian extinction event.

China to ban Coal Burning by 2020 in Beijing

China's smog-plagued capital has announced plans to ban the use of coal by the end of 2020 as the country fights deadly levels of pollution, especially in major cities.

Beijing's Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau posted the plan on its website Monday, saying the city would instead prioritize electricity and natural gas for heating.

The official Xinhua News Agency said coal accounted for a quarter of Beijing's energy consumption in 2012 and 22 percent of the fine particles floating in the city's air. Motor vehicles, industrial production and general dust also contributed to pollution in the 21 million-person city.

Even with the Beijing ban, coal use is expected to soar in China. Coal-fired power and heating is a major generator of greenhouse gases and has helped turn China into the world's largest emitter of carbon and other heat-trapping gases.

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Hard to Believe: Natural Gas Worse Than Coal, Oil for Global Warming

Both shale gas and conventional natural gas have a larger greenhouse gas footprint than do coal or oil, especially for the primary uses of residential and commercial heating.

Dr. Robert Howarth, a professor of ecology and environmental biology, came to this conclusion after assessing the best available data and analyzing greenhouse gas footprints for both methane (including shale gas and conventional gas) and carbon dioxide over a timescale of 20-years following emissions. The findings are published in Energy Science & Engineering.

"While emissions of carbon dioxide are less from natural gas than from coal and oil, methane emissions are far greater. Methane is such a potent greenhouse gas that these emissions make natural gas a dangerous fuel from the standpoint of global warming over the next several decades," said Dr. Howarth. "Society should wean ourselves from all fossil fuels and not rely on the myth that natural gas is an acceptable bridge fuel to a sustainable future."

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Oligocene to Miocene Australia was Wet AND Prone to Fire

Was the Oligocene–Miocene a time of fire and rain? Insights from brown coals of the southeastern Australia Gippsland Basin

Authors:

Holdgate et al

Abstract:

Lithotype cycles (ranging from 10 to 30 m thick) in the brown coals of the Latrobe Valley, Gippsland Basin, Australia, display well-developed lightening-upward trends. Cycle tops are characterized by abrupt and unconformable boundaries with the overlying cycle. Geological, geochemical, palynological and macrofossil evidence is consistent with a relative drying (terrestrialization) upward depositional model for the cycles.

The abundance of charcoal in dark lithotypes near the cycle bases is explained by the fire-prone and highly flammable nature of the herbaceous/reed wetlands, in common with similar modern wetlands in modern Australasia, in which the dark lithotypes are suggested to have formed. This, together with the greater preservation potential of charcoal in subaqueous environments, results in the wettest facies of the Latrobe Valley coals having the highest charcoal contents. Despite prevailing warm, wet climate conditions and the predominance of rainforests that are suggested to have characterized the Cenozoic of southern Australia, some swamp taxa were clearly already pre-adapted to tolerate fire and are likely to have been the ancestors of the fire-adapted floral communities of modern arid Australia.

Obama Orders Cut of Carbon Emissions by Power Plants by 30% by 2030 Through Clean Air Act

At the end of his first year in office, President Obama made a bold promise: the United States would cut its greenhouse gas emissions substantially by 2020.

Unfortunately it was a risky pledge that hinged on Congress. After President Obama was unable to get his major climate change proposal through Congress in his first term, it seemed as though his pledge to the rest of the World and planet Earth might disintegrate into thin air.

But today, President Obama announced plans to bypass Congress entirely. By using his executive authority under the Clean Air Act, he proposed an Environmental Protection Agency regulation to cut carbon pollution from the nation’s power plants 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. It’s one of the strongest actions ever taken by the United States government to fight climate change.

“The shift to a cleaner-energy economy won’t happen overnight, and it will require tough choices along the way,” President Obama said Saturday in his weekly radio and Internet address, previewing Monday’s announcement. “But a low-carbon, clean-energy economy can be an engine of growth for decades to come. America will build that engine. America will build the future, a future that’s cleaner, more prosperous and full of good jobs.”

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Existing Coal Power Plants Not Required to Install Carbon Capture Technologies

Power plants already in operation in the United States will not be required to be retrofitted with equipment to capture carbon emissions, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency said on Monday.

Agency chief Gina McCarthy addressed concerns raised after the EPA on Friday announced the first regulations setting strict limits on the amount of carbon pollution that can be generated by any newly built plant.

Coal and utility industry groups denounced the rules, and complained that the agency was forcing the use of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, which they say is unproven and expensive.

Some companies expressed fears that EPA rules expected to be announced by June 2014 would call for conventional coal plants already in operation to be retrofitted with CCS technology.

"It (CCS) is not seen, at least at this stage, as an add-on that could be used to put on an existing conventional coal facility," McCarthy told reporters at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.

She said CCS technology is only an effective technology when it is designed as part of a new plant.

McCarthy said the EPA is engaging with states, industry and other groups about how best to establish federal emissions standards for nation's existing fleet of more than 1,000 power plants.

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Understanding δ13C Variation in Coal From a Permian-Triassic Boundary Locale in Australia

Decoupling δ13C response to palaeoflora cycles and climatic variation in coal; a case study from the Late Permian Bowen Basin, Queensland, Australia

Authors:

1. Nikola Van de Wetering (a)
2. Joan Esterle (a)
3. Kim Baublys (a)

Affiliations:

a. Department of Earth Sciences, The University of Queensland, Steele Building, St Lucia, Brisbane, Qld 4072, Australia

Abstract:

The Late Permian coal measures of the Bowen Basin, Australia express both environmental and climatic changes that occurred prior to the Permian Triassic (P–T) boundary. In order to decouple the influence of environmental factors (salinity, pH, base level and temperature) from depositional and climatic factors (atmospheric CO2) in organic δ13C, a high resolution study was performed on 24 coal seams (total 24.6 m) in the Late Permian stratigraphy in the northern Bowen Basin. The Late Permian stratigraphy of the Bowen Basin records a transition from deltaic and lacustrine conditions within the Tinowan Formation and Black Alley Shale Formation, to fluvial deposition in the Kaloola and Bandanna Formations. Intermittent volcanism is recorded by tuff layers during periods of peat accumulation. Variations of coal lithotypes were recorded and formed the basis of sampling for petrography and isotope analysis. Coal samples were etched to expose cellular anatomy, and systematically identified to recognise palaeoflora assemblages. When observed within seam, δ13C of the coal varied cyclically (13C enriched-depleted-enriched) as a response to environmental changes expressed in palaeoflora communities. The total range of δ13C was -26.6‰ to -21.9‰. The overall trend of δ13C progresses to increasing 13C enrichment, corresponding with dull lithotypes (rich in inertinite) which indicate fluctuations in base level. The 13C enrichment peaks at -22.5‰ within the Kaloola Member and shifting rapidly toward a depletion (maximum -26.6‰) of 13C in the upper Bandanna Formation, prior to the P–T boundary. These changes are expressed in palaeoflora communities where ecosystems shifted from dominant Glossopteris flora, to climax community flora including Palaeosmunda, Cycadales and Ginkgo, suited to temperate, early Mesozoic climates. The results of this study represent an insight into the effects of environmental variables on 13C uptake of plants. The identification of flora within coal gives an insight into palaeowetland evolution, and can be partnered with classic petrographical techniques for integrated analysis in coals. Both the geochemistry and the anatomical aspects of coal represent an important tool for future palaeowetland research.

Chinese Coal Consumption is Growing and Enormous

Chinese coal consumption surged for a 12th consecutive year in 2011, with the country burning 2.3 billion tons of the carbon-emitting mineral to run power plants, industrial boilers and other equipment to support its economic and population growth.

In a simple but striking chart published on its website, the U.S. Energy Information Administration plotted China's progress as the world's dominant coal-consuming country, shooting past rival economies like the United States, India and Russia as well as regional powers such as Japan and South Korea.

In fact, according to EIA, the 325-million-ton increase in Chinese coal consumption in 2011 accounted for 87 percent of the entire world's growth for the year, which was estimated at 374 million tons. Since 2000, China has accounted for 82 percent of the world's coal demand growth, with a 2.3-billion-ton surge, the agency said.

"China now accounts for 47 percent of global coal consumption -- almost as much as the rest of the world combined," EIA said of the latest figures.

The rising consumption numbers reflect a 200-plus percent increase in Chinese electricity generation since 2000, with most of the new power coming from coal-fired power plants. Chinese growth averaged 9 percent per year from 2000 to 2010, more than twice the 4 percent global growth rate for coal consumption. And when China is excluded from the tally, growth in coal use averaged only 1 percent for the rest of the world over the 2000-2010 period, according to EIA.

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Why Global Warming Is Inevitable: Coal Demand Is Growing Everywhere Except the USA

Cheap shale gas is significantly reducing coal demand in the United States, but global coal consumption is still expected to rise 2.6 percent annually by 2017, the International Energy Agency said today in a report.

Coal consumption will climb to 4.32 billion tons of oil equivalent by 2017, nearly matching oil consumption of about 4.4 billion, the Paris-based agency said in its first Medium-Term Coal Market Report.

"Coal's share of the global energy mix continues to grow each year, and if no changes are made to current policies, coal will catch oil within a decade," said Maria van der Hoeven, IEA's executive director.

Demand for coal rose 4.3 percent last year, with China accounting for 67 percent of the increase and replacing Japan as the largest importer, the report says. Coal demand and carbon dioxide emissions from coal will continue to increase unless climate change policies are introduced, the IEA said.

Countries outside the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development are expected to drive growth with an annual increase of 3.9 percent. Within the OECD, coal use will drop by 0.7 percent a year, led by a 2.5 percent drop in U.S. demand per year to 600 million metric tons in 2017, the IEA said.

"Coal demand never stropped growing in the financial crisis and despite aggressive climate policies in many places," van der Hoeven said in a teleconference with journalists. "The only significant decline in coal consumption globally was in the United States, and the reason is cheap gas."

Total world consumption of coal will be 6.17 billion tons in 2017, up from 5.28 billion last year, the report forecasts.

"The impact of the coal-to-gas switch in North America is so significant that for the first time since China's rise, the medium-term growth rate in coal consumption will fall below the growth rate of gas," van der Hoeven said.

The world will burn around 1.2 billion more tons of coal per year by 2017 compared to today, equivalent to the current coal consumption of Russia and the United States combined. China will account for 70 percent of the growth in coal demand over the next five years, while India will make up 22 percent, the report says.

"India becomes the second-largest coal consumer and the largest coal importer in the world," van der Hoeven said. "Together, by 2017, China and India represent more than one-third of global coal imports and two-thirds of global coal demand. It's clear that the Chinese and Indian coal market decisions will have an impact on our electricity bills."

India's coal demand will increase by 6.3 percent per year to 643 million tons by 2017, IEA said. Australia will become the world's largest coal exporter by 2017, shipping 356 million tons of coal equivalent, the report says.

There are times when I wish I was wrong...but I predicted this stuff almost six years ago.  The exception is that I did not see the US demand for coal sliding because of natural gas.  However, as I point out in my post, it won't matter if the US or Europe drop their carbon output...China and India will more than make up for it.  And since neither of those countries are willing to bind themselves and say that the West (ahem, developed countries) must bear the burden of CO2 reduction. 

So, Global Warming Is Inevitable.

We have only one atmosphere, folks.

Something Nasty In PT Boundary Coal?

The volcanic eruptions thought responsible for Earth's largest mass extinction — which killed more than 70 percent of plants and animals 250 million years ago — is still taking lives today. That's the conclusion of a new study showing, for the first time, that the high silica content of coal in one region of China may be interacting with volatile substances in the coal to cause unusually high rates of lung cancer. The study, which helps solve this cancer mystery, appears in ACS' Environmental Science & Technology, a semi-monthly publication.

David Large and colleagues note that parts of China's Xuan Wei County in Yunnan Province have the world's highest incidence of lung cancer in nonsmoking women — 20 times higher than the rest of China. Women in the region heat their homes and cook on open coal-burning stoves that are not vented to the outside. Scientists believe that indoor emissions from burning coal cause cancer, but are unclear why the lung cancer rates in this region are so much higher than other areas. Earlier studies show a strong link between certain volatile substances, called PAHs, in coal smoke and lung cancer in the region.

The scientists found that coal used in parts of Xuan Wei County had about 10 times more silica, a suspected carcinogen, than U.S. coal. Silica may work in conjunction with PAHs to make the coal more carcinogenic, they indicate. The scientists also found that this high-silica coal was formed 250 million years ago, at a time when massive volcanic eruptions worked to deposit silica in the peat that formed Xuan Wei's coal.

Wait. Coal from the PT Boundary?! Uh. Has a paleo type checked into this? It has nontrivial implications for the models for the PT Boundary paeloenvironment. AFAIK, there shouldn't be coal.

Starting to read the paper.