Explaining the increase in coal consumption worldwide
I oppose the use of coal – not because of its CO2 profile but because it emits so many real pollutants such as fly ash, NOx and other. Those are the things that kill us and other lifeforms. But they can also be dealt with. They can be filtered out reliably. For a price of course so in countries with horrible pollution due to coal such as China, it’s because they have decided that the expense of filters was too much to bear for them. If they balk at using something that’s comparatively cheap in order to keep their air clean, what are the chances they will go solutions such as renewables that are far more expensive. They will do the green thing for cosmetic reasons, but go for coal without filters behind the scenes. We can see that – coal use is rising mainly due to China. And the world still believes Chinas affirmations to be a better global citizen. Time to get real.
Published in December 2018, the recent report of the International Energy Agency (IEA) indicates that global coal consumption is on the rise again (+1% compared to 2017).
