Pouring more cold water over prophecies of
coal's terminal decline, the International Energy Agency (IEA) recently
published its Coal
Report 2017, which shows chatter about the fossil fuel's imminent demise as
nothing more than wishful thinking. Far from being the spent resource the
green lobby would have the public see, coal is making a forceful comeback.
While key markets such as China, India, and the United States show
stronger than expected demand, the report also predicts a growing need for coal
in the developing world – an undeniable game-changer proving coal's resilience
in the future.
The main takeaway from the report is that coal consumption in the
developing world is set to increase
in the future. This will contribute to a global rise in coal use of
around 0.5% every 12 months over the next five years. Far from falling
off a cliff, the IEA states that levels of coal use will remain stable for at
least the next decade. This reversal of coal's fortunes is fueled in no small
part by the Trump administration's efforts to revive America's coal industry.
The U.S. economy is surging, a fact that has led to higher demand and the
opening of new coal mines.
Even if demand has remained robust in major markets, India is
especially significant. The country is a major advocate for clean coal
technology and a driving force for the "clean coal alliance."
This is a logical consequence of the fact that its coal-fired energy
generation will increase by nearly 4% every 12 months in the years to come.
Citing the fact that coal is the cheapest fuel to drive India's economic
development, chief economic adviser to the Indian government Arvind Subramanian
repeatedly insisted
that coal will remain the country's primary source of energy over the
medium term. In doing so, he laid bare a truth routinely denied by the
renewables lobby – namely, that pursuing renewables at all costs is not a
universally viable choice.
Luckily for New Delhi, it has a powerful supporter on its side.
Donald Trump's promise to restore the American coal industry goes hand in
hand with the administration's promotion
of clean coal technologies abroad, such as carbon capture.
During the United Nations Climate Change Conference in November, Trump
climate change adviser George
David Banks proposed a clean coal alliance designed to appeal to India
and Australia, but which is also slated to include other energy-starved
countries in Africa and Southeast Asia.
As was to be expected, the pushback from coal-detractors was
swift. Twenty countries including Britain, Canada, and New Zealand joined
an alliance committed to the phasing out of coal by 2030. This came on
the heels of a World
Bank decision to stop financing upstream oil and gas from 2019, after
having already ceased funding coal power stations in 2010.
However, while grand gestures such as these may score points with
hardheaded environmentalists, they merely attest how far removed from reality
these actors are. No amount of politically correct grandstanding or
capitulation to environmentalist dogma is going to change the fact that using
fossil fuels is the only way for poorer countries to lift themselves out of
poverty. And as the IEA calculations show, not only is Washington's and
New Delhi's push for clean coal technology timely, but it will ultimately
extend coal's lifespan even longer. In fact, Trump's plans for a global
clean coal alliance have boosted the prospects of the fuel in developing
countries, where growing energy demand simply cannot be met by exceedingly
expensive renewables.
Anyone who blindly believes in the fallibility of coal should look
to the small African country of Malawi for an example of how reliance on
renewable energy has failed the local population. For the past two years,
large areas of Malawi have been hit with energy
blackouts after water levels at the country's two main hydro plants
fell to critically low levels during a severe ongoing drought. The
country generates 98%
of its power needs through water, and this lopsided dependence is now
plunging the people into darkness. The power outages last up to several
weeks and are making it impossible for the government to provide services such
as the most basic health care. The lack of power has resulted ininfants
perishing in hospital incubators and most recently killed
four children after a blackout rendered their ventilator oxygen
machines useless.
The Malawi government has consequently taken the only reasonable
decision and turned to building a new coal plant. However, instead of
being considered a long-term solution to the country's power woes, the move was harshly
criticized for its environmental effects. Again, the critics are
overlooking the fact that in countries such as Malawi, the tunnel-visioned
pursuit of renewables is causing more damage to society and environment than
alternative solutions. The development of clean coal technology such as
carbon capture will not only alleviate supply problems, but do so independent
of weather conditions.
It is madness that children are dying as a result of insufficient
energy supplies when there's affordable and abundant coal to put an end to all
this. India, Malawi, and many other countries around the globe are
perfect examples illustrating the ongoing importance of coal. And with
our scientific progress, clean coal technology is a viable path to secure
supply while negating environmental impacts. It's time for a clean coal
alliance to put common sense back into our approach to global energy policy,
instead of focusing on misguided environmental policies that do nothing but
cost lives.
