Tag: coal

Other Than Germany … COAL!

Published on by sunshinehours12 Comments

Poland is suggesting that coal make a big comeback in the European Union in order to thwart Putin’s use of Natural Gas as a weapon.

“Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk says the country’s giant coal fields should become a cornerstone in Europe’s defense against a newly aggressive Russia.”

(Too bad the EU has fought against fracking to the point of insanity)

But the sentence that jumped out at me is

“Poland burns over 50 million tons of coal a year, more than any European nation other than Germany, “

Wait! I thought Germany was the poster boy for green energy!

Yes indeed. BP Statistical Review of World Energy says Germany burned more coal than any other European nation and it burned 3.9% more coal in 2012 than it did in 2011.

Why? The shutdown of some of its nuclear power plants.

Country 2012 Change
Austria 2.0 -23.8%
Azerbaijan ^ 3.8%
Belarus ^ 1.2%
Belgium 3.0 -9.5%
Bulgaria 7.0 -13.4%
Czech Republic 16.6 -7.8%
Denmark 2.5 -23.4%
Finland 2.9 -15.1%
France 11.4 20.1%
Germany 79.2 3.9%
Greece 7.5 -0.5%
Hungary 3.0 -1.9%
Republic of Ireland 1.5 16.9%
Italy 16.2 0.3%
Kazakhstan 35.0 2.6%
Lithuania 0.2 -5.5%
Netherlands 8.5 8.2%
Norway 0.7 -0.5%
Poland 54.0 -4.0%
Portugal 2.9 31.4%
Romania 6.7 -9.5%
Slovakia 3.2 -3.5%
Spain 19.3 24.2%
Sweden 1.5 -25.7%
Switzerland 0.1 6.5%
Turkey 31.3 -5.6%
Turkmenistan – –
Ukraine 44.6 6.9%
United Kingdom 39.1 24.0%
Uzbekistan 1.2 -0.3%
Other Europe & Eurasia 22.2 -1.7%

 

 

Putin: Helping Coal Make a Comeback in the Ukraine

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It is too bad the EU has worked so hard to stop fracking in Europe. Europe might had have some spare natural gas to sell the Ukraine.

“Ukraine’s Western-backed leaders scrambled on Friday to find new sources of energy after Russia hiked its gas price by 80 percent in response to the overthrow of Kiev’s pro-Kremlin regime.”

“We are now reviewing our electricity and fuel balance for 2014 with a view of using as much domestic coal as possible at the expense of natural gas,”

http://www.thegwpf.org/ukraine-shifts-to-coal-after-russian-gas-price-hike/

 

Embed from Getty Images

Wood-burning power plants emit more pollution per megawatt than coal plants

Published on by sunshinehours15 Comments

This is a total tragedy caused by environmentalists who are dangerously stupid.

“Power plants that burn wood to produce electricity emit comparatively more pollution than modern coal-fired power plants, according to a group that advocates tougher rules on the growing biomass-power industry.

The issue is relevant in Kentucky because of a proposed wood-burning power plant near Hazard, called ecoPower Generation, the state’s first.

In a study released early Wednesday, the Massachusetts-based Partnership for Policy Integrity said wood-fired plants are not as clean as advocates claim, putting more carbon dioxide and other pollutants into the atmosphere than coal or natural-gas plants when judged on the ratio of pollution to energy produced.

For example, biomass plants emit nearly 50 percent more carbon dioxide — which traps heat in the atmosphere — per megawatt hour of electricity produced than coal plants, the study concluded. “

“”What emerges from our analysis is a picture of an industry that despite loudly and continually proclaiming itself clean and green, is in many respects still one of the dirtiest corners of the energy industry, an industry where avoidance of pollution restrictions is tolerated, and even encouraged, by state and federal regulators,” the report said.”

Despite industry “standards” that “underestimates hydrochloric acid emissions” the company went ahead and made up their own.

” ecoPower went a step further — that it “invented” its own standards to estimate total emissions of hazardous pollutants. Its level of emissions would have been higher even using the suspect industry standards, the report said”

http://www.kentucky.com/2014/04/02/3174184/report-wood-burning-power-plants.html   (h/t Marc Morano)

Save The Coal – Polish PM Wants to “Rehabilitate Coal”

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Europe is freaking out about Putin’s control of Europe’s energy supplies.  The Greens and the EU Central Planning Authority (same group I think) have done everything in their power to thwart attempts to explore for shale gas (fracking) in Europe.

So guess what? The Polish PM want to “rehabilitate” coal. Europe could have been burning nice clean shale gas by now. Now they want to burn even more coal. And probably trees. And books. Anything with high CO2 and anything without the word fracking in it.

“Russia, which provides around one third of the EU’s oil and gas, sent shockwaves through the international community with its military intervention and annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula two weeks ago.

The action prompted the United States and its European allies to begin imposing sanctions on President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle and to threaten to penalise key sectors of Russia’s economy.

Some 40 percent of Russia’s gas destined for Europe is shipped through Ukraine.

“The experience of the last few weeks shows that Europe must strive towards solidarity when it comes to energy,” Tusk said.

He said Poland’s proposed energy union would be based on six points including the “rehabilitation” of coal as a valid energy source, more shale gas exploration and common purchases to ensure the best price.”

http://www.thegwpf.org/polish-pm-eu-should-form-energy-union-based-on-coal-gas-to-secure-supplies/

 

 

frackOff

Slaughtering Old Trees in Germany to Burn Coal And Close Down Nukes

Published on by sunshinehours12 Comments

In order to ensure the lights don’t go out after Germany’s latest stupid energy decision to shut down its nuclear power plants, they are slaughtering 12,000 year old Oaks to dig up up the dirtiest coal – Brown Coal.

Critics of the German government’s energy policy say it is unacceptable to raise C02 emissions by relying on coal as the country moves to switch off all its nuclear power plants by 2022. In order to extract the brown coal from the ground this winter, RWE will cut down 3,900 hectares of the 12,000-year-old oak and hornbeam Hambach forest, leaving just 300 hectares in tact.

Read about it here.

Previous tree slaughtering documented here.