In Isaac Asimov’s Foundation (of which, if the trailers are anything to go by, the Apple TV adaptation is going to be awful), reverting to coal and oil use instead of nuclear is seen as a sure sign of the former Galactic Empire’s slide into barbarism. Similarly, green activists have been assuring us for years that the future of coal is imminently doomed.
So what does it say that coal demand is soaring, along with prices?
The price of premium Australian thermal coal has raced to an all-time record after a global energy crunch sparked a battle among buyers for fresh supplies of the fossil fuel.
High-grade Newcastle coal soared to $US203.20 ($279) a tonne, beating the previous high set in July 2008, and marking a fourfold price increase in the last year alone as big global buyers rush to grab deals for the power-generation fuel ahead of the Northern Hemisphere winter.
Hmm, the Northern Hemisphere winter, you say?
In a delicious irony, this year’s Glasgow climate gabfest is set to coincide with a winter that will see British households shivering through an energy shortage. That’s on top of years of regular “energy poverty” that kills thousands every winter.
All brought about by Britain’s headlong rush to adopt “renewable” energy.
Europe, particularly “energiewende”-boasting Germany, isn’t looking much better. Germany doesn’t even have its nuclear industry to rely on anymore, thanks to outgoing chancellor Angela Merkel’s panicked decision to shut the sector down. Instead, Germany is importing coal and gas.
The only trouble is, so is everyone else. Enter: basic economics.
A global natural gas shortage is also playing into the squeeze on energy supplies.
Spot LNG prices in Asia have jumped to $US34 per million British thermal units from under $US2 mbtu in June 2020 amid a rush to grab supplies, lifting the near-term fortunes of big Australian exporters including Woodside Petroleum and Santos.
“Importers in north Asia, particularly China, are keen not to repeat their experience from last winter, where colder than usual temperatures and a scarcity of LNG cargoes resulted in LNG spot prices spiking higher,” CBA analyst Vivek Dhar said.
European gas prices have also surged as buyers on the continent compete with Asian nations for cargoes of the fuel and the resulting tariff surge has made coal a more affordable alternative for many.
Welcome to your glorious green future, Europe.
Just to prove that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results, many countries are still determined to dig their green energy graves even deeper.
The report also says in the longer term, thermal coal prices could be sustained if net zero emissions commitments from countries and corporations result in the closure of mines ahead of coal-fired power stations.
The Australian
“Dangerous global warming” is going to be a pretty hard sell when whole nations are freezing through their worst Winter of Discontent since the mid-70s.
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