Coal news and updates

There’s many a paradox in the world of coal. It’s the most polluting fossil fuel, and most governments agree that it doesn’t present a long-term solution to the need for energy to power an ever-more-developed and populous world. And yet, in many countries, more new coal capacity is being built than could ever be used if those countries are to hit their own climate targets.

Not only that: More capacity is being built than is even needed. Much more.

China is the biggest culprit when it comes to building expensive new power stations it doesn’t need. The average utilization rate of coal plants in China was just 49.4% in 2015, according analysis by the NGOs Greenpeace, Coal Swarm, and Sierra Club, published today. (pdf)

But the low utilization rates, which were 60% in 2011 and are predicted to keep going down, haven’t deterred builders, companies, and local authorities from enabling more capacity. “China is effectively adding more than one redundant coal power plant each week,” the report’s authors write.

Coal use in China has actually dropped for the past two years in a row. Three factors play into that: a huge push for more renewable capacity; the structural change in China’s economy, which has seen growth slow; and the government’s concentration on improving the dire air quality.

Source: qz