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Europe's 'Coal Renaissance' Masks Industry Downfall
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/justin-guay/europes-coal-renaissance-industry_b_2535187.html[font face=Serif]Justin Guay
Washington Representative, Sierra Club
[font size=5] Europe's 'Coal Renaissance' Masks Industry Downfall [/font]
Posted: 01/24/2013 11:17 am
[font size=3]The coal industry has pointed to Europe's increasing coal use and imports as evidence of coal's inevitable future. Reporters have had a field day with this: The clean energy bastion is now home to rising coal use. The problem is reality doesn't match the rhetoric. The truth is coal's future in the EU is bleak. Here's what's happening.
First things first, new coal build in the EU is very similar to the U.S.: It's not happening. Of the 112 power plants proposed since 2008, only three have actually broken ground. Another 73 have been abandoned and as the international coal movement grows in strength the likelihood that the rest will go anywhere is exceedingly low. Every month projects are abandoned or shelved. Here's the fate of the wave of new coal plants planned in 2008 in the EU:
All told, since 2010 there has been a net closure of coal capacity in the EU of about 10GW. So what has the EU been building? Lots and lots of gas, wind and solar.
But wait you are a liar! I hear the Germans are building new coal to replace all that nuclear power. Nope. Twenty-four new coal plant proposals have been abandoned in Germany since 2008. A small number of announced projects remain but it is widely expected none of these will in the end be permitted and some remain just on paper.
…[/font][/font]
Washington Representative, Sierra Club
[font size=5] Europe's 'Coal Renaissance' Masks Industry Downfall [/font]
Posted: 01/24/2013 11:17 am
[font size=3]The coal industry has pointed to Europe's increasing coal use and imports as evidence of coal's inevitable future. Reporters have had a field day with this: The clean energy bastion is now home to rising coal use. The problem is reality doesn't match the rhetoric. The truth is coal's future in the EU is bleak. Here's what's happening.
First things first, new coal build in the EU is very similar to the U.S.: It's not happening. Of the 112 power plants proposed since 2008, only three have actually broken ground. Another 73 have been abandoned and as the international coal movement grows in strength the likelihood that the rest will go anywhere is exceedingly low. Every month projects are abandoned or shelved. Here's the fate of the wave of new coal plants planned in 2008 in the EU:
All told, since 2010 there has been a net closure of coal capacity in the EU of about 10GW. So what has the EU been building? Lots and lots of gas, wind and solar.
But wait you are a liar! I hear the Germans are building new coal to replace all that nuclear power. Nope. Twenty-four new coal plant proposals have been abandoned in Germany since 2008. A small number of announced projects remain but it is widely expected none of these will in the end be permitted and some remain just on paper.
…[/font][/font]
