Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA)’s Post

Some interesting stats on carbon emissions both by region, country, and individual income level.Some data is missing - the definition of income levels, and what percentage of the global population fits into each of those categories. Most interestingly China produces more emissions (as at 2022) than the USA, India, the Middle East and Russia combined, although its also not clear whether exported fossil fuels from these regions are included in the data. Given China's extraordinarily high installation of solar wind and batteries in 2023 and 2024, it will be interesting to compare these same stats in another 12 months. Of course China is still installing coal and gas power generation plants, the question in my mind is how much of that capacity will now only be used as peaker plants, or run at baseload levels? I'd also like to know how much of their older fleet of coal generators are being closed and converted to battery storage sites like we are now doing here in Australia. The average efficiency (defined as the average electricity output v the average energy input, in kJ) for coal power plants is now about 35%. For combined cycle gas plants it can be as high as 60%. Baseloads for modern coal power plants are about 25-40% of rated capacity, so conservatively China could eventually use only 40% of its installed capacity of coal fired power generators if solar wind and batteries keep being installed at current rates and are significantly cheaper to operate. What does this mean for coal exporters like Australia? Australia’s Department of Industry, Science and Resources signalled in its March 2023 Resources and Energy Quarterly, that “the overall peak in global thermal coal trade is likely to have passed”. Given coal represents about 25% of Australia's resource exports, this is a very significant change on the horizon. How will we manage a significant structural downturn in our export income? #australia #coal #exports #marketpeak #carbonemissions With acknowledgement for the graph to Our World In Data and Nina Benoit

🇨🇳 NEW | China monthly snapshot on energy & air pollution out now in EN & CN👇 📈 Large-scale power generation up 5.8%, largely due to base effects - summer temps higher than milder 2023 📉 Thermal power up 3.7% year-on-year  ☀️ Solar up 21.7%  💨 Wind up 6.6%  ☢️ Nuclear up 4.9% 📈 In August 2024, China's coal imports rose 3.4% 💡 During summer peak, imported coal has price advantage over domestic coal, leading to significant increase in coal imports 📉 Crude oil imports in August down by 7% 📈 Natural gas imports up by 9.1% ☀️ In first 7 months of 2024, newly installed solar reached 124 GW, up 28% compared to 2023 💨 Newly installed wind power capacity from Jan. to July reached 30 GW, up 6% In first 7 months of 2024, commissioning of thermal (coal & gas) power plants reached 24GW ☀️ Solar cell 12-month moving sum production reached 583 gigawatts - a dip affected by industry overcapacity & profitability challenges 🚗 NEVs 44% of all vehicles produced; exports up 22% 🏛️ Government introduced subsidies for users who scrap vehicles & purchase NEVs 💨 In Aug. 2024, worst PM2.5 was in Northwestern China; Yinchuan, capital of Ningxia province, was top Worst ozone was in provincial capital of Sichuan, in Southwestern China Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, had worst NO2 - a toxic gas that contributes to PM2.5 & ozone 🇨🇳 CREA's September 2024 monthly snapshot of China's energy & air pollution trends is now available in EN & CN Find full snapshot & subscribe here: ➡ https://lnkd.in/eVnkP-pV #AirPollution #AirQuality #China #CleanEnergy #CleanAir #Coal #Emissions #Energy #EnergyTransition #NEV #NewEnergyVehicle #Power #Renewables #Solar #Wind

BIG STORY 🚨 | As #oilandgas majors come to see India as their last big market, the country stands at a vulnerable juncture. Amidst falling demand for #FossilFuels in the West, oil-rich countries like US are looking to play the #energy diplomacy card on developing nations like India in order to sell as much oil, gas & coal as they can. ➡ Between pressure and blandishments, it might make costly long-term commitments. rajshekhar m looks at one such deal. #Tellurian. https://lnkd.in/d8jt_cE4 #airpollution #pollution #airquality #smog #cleanair #renewableenergy #fossilfuels #emissions #renewableenergy #solarempowerment #greenhydrogen #windenergy #solar #finance #climatenews #energy #energynews #fossilfuels #climateaction #coalpower #thermalpowerplant #badarpur #greengrowth #oilandgas #coalmining #energyefficiency #coal #oil

The world can 🌱change quicker than many in the 🛢️fossil fuel lobby will admit. Tho full necessary transition will take decades, if you listen to the fossil fuel lobby we will need significant hydrocarbons well after 2050. Sorry, it will be marginal. Change will accelerate, momentum added, the cost of capital will do the rest. Some interesting examples of policy changes that will have major impacts: 🔋🔌China EV and Grids: China starts on technical standards governing new energy vehicle integration into the grid by 2025. EVs will become a vital part of China’s energy storage system by 2030. While they lag US and Europe on V2G, their scale will have a huge effect on grid management, deployment of more renewables and help China close 100's of coal plants by 2030! 🌱🏭 The EU’s implementing the 1st ever tax (Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)) on emissions of carbon-intensive imports by 2026. This covers many sectors, but here let’s look at steel. After the EU many countries are likely to follow. The UK is implementing it 2027. This will deliver a devastating collective blow to the Chinese steel industry. So what is China doing? In China govt action has started to wean the world’s biggest steel producer off coal-fired blast furnaces! That will be more coal mines shuttered. And CBAM and other measures will need products such as steel also use renewables in the power used in the processes. Just two measures. Every year, more measures. More impacts. Closer to the tipping point. Remember the worlds biggest economy will reach peak oil by the end of 2024. What other measures are making an impact in the energy transition? #Renewables #ClimateChange #EnergyTransition --------------------------------------- 📞 📧 Contact me or OWC if you want to chat about support for your renewable energy project, investment, or market entry. ➡ Subscribe to the loudest, most seriously caffeinated #offshorewind newsletter on LinkedIn 👉🏼 https://lnkd.in/erRNk4MB

Australian Thermal Coal Exports Decline Rapidly: No Respite from South East Asia Anne-Louise Knight, analyst at IEEFA, has brought to light a critical trend in the #energy sector. Australian thermal #coal exports are witnessing a faster-than-anticipated decline, and hopes that South East Asian markets might absorb this downturn appear unfounded. The key findings of her analysis point to a persistent decrease in demand from traditional importers such as #Japan, #Korea and #Taiwan. Simultaneously, major players like #India and #China are pivoting towards enhancing their domestic coal production, thereby reducing their reliance on imports. This shift challenges prevalent forecasts which overstate South East Asia's capacity to make up for the diminishing demand from these pivotal markets and presuppose a drop in exports from #Indonesia. Read analysis 👇 https://lnkd.in/gQtNvhqC #thermalcoal #SouthEastAsia #Australia

South Korea's plan to co-fire coal plants with ammonia raises health concerns as it could emit toxic gases causing breathing difficulties and lung diseases. While ammonia combustion doesn't emit CO2, it releases fine particulate matter, PM2.5. Environmental groups urge South Korea to transition to renewables like solar and wind. Reluctance to shift from coal stems from newer plant infrastructures and potential financial losses. Coal accounted for 34% of South Korea's power in 2021, with plans to co-fire half with 20% ammonia by 2030. Critics estimate a 50% rise in fine dust emissions in the Chungnam province. South Korea's MOTIE declined to comment.

🔗3 Countries to Watch for Coal Development▶️ https://bit.ly/46uQUCg When it comes to #coalpower, Asia is the key region to watch🏭 ▶️In 2015, more than 90% of all coal in development was concentrated there, and the pattern has continued since then. China alone has been responsible for more than half of the #coal project pipeline. #Electricity demand has been rising quickly in many Asian countries, and is expected to continue to grow, improving the quality of life for billions of people. But if this growth comes from coal rather than other sources, it will seriously damage the #climate and local #airquality. ▶️The good news is that the top coal-developing countries in #Asia all decreased their coal project pipelines from 2015 to 2023. China's pipeline of coal projects in development shrank from 738 GW to 408 GW. India's coal pipeline plummeted from 312 GW to 77 GW. Turkey and Vietnam stand out among smaller countries, as both had plans to increase their coal capacity multi-fold but ended up cancelling or suspending most of those plans. ▶️Overall, the situation today is better than in 2015, though the amount of new coal still in development in the region would be too much to achieve the goals of the #ParisClimateAgreement.

Hridayesh Joshi writes about India's ambitious #coalgasification plans. With India's huge energy demand, coal gasification can provide as a alternative “cleaner option compared to burning of coal” to reduce the emissions and cut its rising import bills of natural gas and energy fuels like methanol, ethanol, and ammonia. However, there are some significant obstacles to overcome on this path. These include the poor quality of coal found in India to absence of effective technology to store and utilise the carbon (CCUS) emitted during the process. While this looks like an alternative but whether it is viable or how soon this will become viable needs more discussion. My views also included in the article - "The issue for India is whether we should be investing in such an expensive technology. We have limited financial resources and we should know how to optimise them. Now the government is coming up with subsidy schemes and ways like viability gap funding to promote some of these projects. Globally, a review of 16 projects by IEEFA finds that even though the industry claims a 95% capture rate is achievable, no existing project has consistently captured more than 80% of carbon. The success of these is limited and it is costly." Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) IEEFA Asia Pacific CarbonCopy Dennis Wamsted Kevin Morrison Amandine Denis-Ryan https://lnkd.in/ghwj56iZ

Problem + Solutions needed. First understand the problem.

Interesting explanation of China's continued expansion of coal-fired electricity generation in spite of stunning growth in renewables. #china #coal #electricity #generation #generators