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Page added on March 7, 2013
U.S. Coal Consumption Down
Despite record amounts being spent to propagandize the coal industry and the ridiculous concept of “clean coal”, United States coal consumption has gone down. Sort of.
A recent report from the Energy Information Administration indicates the U.S.’s relative consumption has gone done, while the world consumption continues to rise at a nauseating rate. This matters in a couple ways. U.S. has typically driven fossil fuel consumption globally – so this is a step in the right direction. However the aggregate amount of greenhouse gasses distributed into the atmosphere is what will make or break the environmental future for our children. Countries like China continue to grow at exponential rates, those not seen since America’s industrial revolution.
Why am I not doing backflips about the U.S. dropping coal consumption? Because the U.S. could stop coal’d-turkey (get it?) and if other countries continue at the same clip, we will still all have black marks under our noses and our children will cough like the Swammy Swans in Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax.
According to the International Energy Agency, China has become the largest coal importer in the world. In 2009, China became a net coal importer for the first time. In 2011, it became the largest coal importer, surpassing Japan, which had held the position for decades.
So why is China riding the black dragon (is that a saying?… can it be?) so intensely now while the U.S. is just finishing up its binge? Because coal is relatively inexpensive compared to virtually all other forms of energy excepting natural gas. And because it is relatively safe to transport and easy to extract from the earth when compared to some of the more desperate measures we are deploying to access oil and natural gas.
Plus, nobody in the U.S. is complaining about the exports we currently enjoy. The state of Wyoming experienced a 21 percent increase in coal production between Q2 2012 and the same quarter in 2011. That is unprecedented and welcomed growth in a state known for little else besides farming and livestock. (editor’s note: and Yellowstone and the Grand Teton Mtns.)
While international demand remains high, domestic demand has dropped because of record-low prices for natural gas and continued investment in a robust distribution infrastructure.
The non-expert analysis: U.S. demand will continue to drop while international demand will rise until the cheap coal bubble has popped and rapidly industrializing nations are forced to look elsewhere (read: nuclear) for cheap, fast energy. From a climate change perspective, this would not be a bad outcome.
5 Comments on "U.S. Coal Consumption Down"
J-Gav on Thu, 7th Mar 2013 10:22 pm
Germany, having gone off nuclear and developed about as much as they can in the way of wind and solar, is now starting to go back to coal (I remember well going down to the cellar to haul it up there when I lived in Cologne in 1974). I also remember wiping the black dust off all surfaces I wanted to use during a 5-day stay in Metz (eastern France) a year or so later. Foul!
But the world’s going back to it (actually sticking with it) because it’s cheaper. Problem: the best stuff, anthracite, is much less abundant now. We’re getting down into the low-grade crap, just like with so many other resources. Fouler and fouler!
Yes, international demand will rise (strange: no mention of India in this article, doin’ coal in a big way!) But okay, China’s the real story as their coal use goes straight up to the Arctic in the form of soot dropping onto already diminished sea-ice. Can you spell A-l-b-e-d-o effect?
GregT on Thu, 7th Mar 2013 10:32 pm
So US coal consumption has gone down?
Then who exactly is consuming all of the goods that China produces using Coal exported by the US?
J-Gav on Thu, 7th Mar 2013 11:33 pm
Right on, GregT, outsourcing pollution was always part of the globalization ‘bargain.’ Even if everybody’s gonna take it in the chops afterwards.
BillT on Fri, 8th Mar 2013 12:45 am
China is at the same place the US was 50 years ago with coal use. I remember coal dust floating on the Susquehanna River, not being able to see higher than 10 stories on the buildings in Pittsburgh through the smog, and something called ‘acid rain’, caused by coal burning power plants in the US, that was killing the eastern forests. Nothing new here except it is now ‘blame China’ time in prep for the next big war.
Kenz300 on Fri, 8th Mar 2013 3:35 am
If we are to have any hope of slowing Climate Change the world needs to stop building any more coal fired power plants.
Coal use in the US is in decline because combined natural gas, wand and solar power plants are cleaner and cheaper to build and operate.
The price of wind and solar keeps dropping every year.
China, India and other countries need to speed up the transition to wind and solar. That is the future.