Guest “I don’t care who you are. It’s funny! ”By David Middleton
HOPPY’S COMMENT
Coal is back … for now
From Hoppy Kercheval
23 August 2021
Coal is hot.
Even as the United States and many countries around the world commit to reducing carbon emissions to slow climate change, the demand for coal has grown significantly.
The Wall Street Journal recently reported, “Coal use is increasing in some of the world’s largest economies as electricity demand recovers from the pandemic, illustrating the challenges facing countries weaning themselves off of dirty but reliable fossil fuel.”
Ironically, the shrinking coal industry in this county is one of the main reasons coal is now booming. The demand for thermal and metallurgical coal is outstripping supply and driving prices to levels that have not been reached for several years.
[…]
“Getting off coal is difficult because of security of supply,” said Kathryn Porter, founder of energy consultancy Watt-Logic, the Wall Street Journal. “At the end of the day you have to leave the lights on.”
[…]
The question, however, is how long the boom will last. “We hope this will last,” said Hamilton.
That is unlikely in the long run as several factors are putting downward pressure on the industry. However, right now it’s good to be in the coal business.
MetroNews, The Voice of West Virginia
Hoppy Kercheval is known as “the radio channel” of broadcasters in West Virginia.
I went to the normally reliable MSRP to get the latest graphs of historical coal production and prices and found out:
NYMEX coal futures
EIA no longer publishes NYMEX coal futures prices and all historical data is no longer available. For more information on NYMEX futures prices, please contact the CME Group.
Coal markets
And the:
This doesn’t really provide much context. Cancel Culture has apparently found its way into the EIA.
So I went to FRED …
International Monetary Fund, Global Coal Price, Australia [PCOALAUUSDM], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PCOALAUUSDM, August 24, 2021. FRED
The global benchmark for coal prices is Newcastle, Australia and it is booming.
Growing demand for the world’s least popular raw material is causing steam coal prices to rise 106% this year
PUBLISHED THU, AUG 19 2021
Sam Meredith
LONDON – Rising demand for electricity, infrastructure problems and a surge in global gas prices have sparked an extraordinary rally for the world’s least popular commodity.
Australian steam coal in Newcastle Port, the benchmark for the vast Asian market, is up 106% this year to more than $ 166 per ton, according to the latest weekly estimate from commodity price provider Argus.
The Newcastle weekly index, which hit a low of $ 46.18 in early September in 2020, now appears to be pointing to an all-time high of $ 195.20 in July 2008. Its South African counterpart, the Richards Bay Index, ended the week ending August 13 at $ 137.06 per ton, up more than 55% this year.
To put the notable rally in steam coal in some context, the international benchmark Brent crude is one of the few assets to have seen comparable gains this year. The oil contract has increased 33% since the beginning of the year.
The resurgence of steam coal, which is burned to generate electricity, raises serious questions about the so-called “energy transition”. Coal is the most CO2-intensive fossil fuel in terms of emissions and therefore the most important replacement target in the switch to renewable alternatives.
But while policymakers and business leaders repeatedly announce their commitment to meeting the demands of the worsening climate emergency, many still rely on fossil fuels to keep pace with rising electricity demands.
[…]
CNBC
“Death Trains”?
“On Tuesday, October 13, 2020, a freight train will transport coal from the Gunnedah Coal Handling and Preparation Plant operated by Whitehaven Coal Ltd. in Gunnedah, New South Wales, Australia. “
David Gray | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Crackpot nostalgia
Coal power plants are death factories. Close them
James Hansen
Sat, Feb 14, 2009
[…]
The trains that transport coal to the power plants are Death trains. Coal power plants are factories of death. When I testified against the proposed Kingsnorth power plant, I estimated that it would be responsible for the extinction of about 400 species during its lifespan – its proportional contribution to the number that would be doomed to extinction if carbon dioxide rose another 100ppm .
The German and Australian governments pretend to be green. When I show German officials the evidence that the coal source needs to be cut off, they say they will tighten the “carbon cap”. But a cap only slows down the consumption of a fuel – it doesn’t leave it in the ground. When I suggest that their new coal-fired power plants will have to convince Russia to leave its oil in the ground, they are silent. The Australian government was elected on a platform to solve the climate problem, but then, with the help of the industry, set emission targets so high that immeasurable disasters are guaranteed for the young, let alone for the unborn. These governments are not green. They are black – coal black.
[…]
The Graunade
Who’s in the mood for Johnny Cash?
I hear the train a-comin ‘; It’s rollin ’round the bend
And I haven’t seen the sunshine cause I don’t know when
I’m stuck in Folsom Prison and time drags on.
But this train keeps a-rollin ‘…
Johnny Cash
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