Coal

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – May contracts for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil went as low as -$37.63 on Monday. So report Jillian Ambrose and Martin Farrer at The Guardian. The price, well below zero, was a first for the US oil market, and showed the conviction of traders that the economy would not […]

Climate Crisis

Is Covid-19 Killing the Coal Industry in Egypt and around the World? In the Meantime, Solar Shines

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Simon Nicholas at South Africa’s Business Live reports that the proposed huge new Hamrawein coal-fueled power plant in Egypt has been shelved. There are now no new coal plants planned in Egypt, which is pivoting toward renewables after years of mainly relying on fossil fuels. One cause for the demise […]

Climate Crisis

Killing off the Animals: By Burning Fossil Fuels, we’ll destroy 50% of their Habitat this Century

The Conversation

By Christopher Trisos and Alex Pigot | – The impacts of climate change on species and ecosystems are already evident. Poleward shifts in the geographic distributions of species, catastrophic forest fires and mass bleaching of coral reefs all bear the fingerprints of climate change. But what will the world’s biodiversity look like in the future? […]

Climate Crisis

Coalxit? Germany, 4th Largest Economy, Officially Approves Phase-Out of Coal

Clean Energy Wire

By Benjamin Wehrmann | – ( Clean Energy Wire) – The German government has officially approved the end of coal-fired power production in Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet adopted a law detailing plant shutdowns and compensation payments for coal companies, confirming a commission proposal made last year to end coal no later than 2038. The […]

Climate Crisis

The Anti-Trump: Merkel’s Germany dumps 20% of Its Coal Use, CO2 Falls 7%, Renewables at 40%

Clean Energy Wire

By Julian Wettengel | – ( Clean Energy Wire) – Germany has seen a second year of significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in 2019, as coal use fell by more than 20 percent and energy production from renewables increased, preliminary calculations by energy research group AG Energiebilanzen show. While the country’s overall energy use […]

Climate Crisis

Turning point in Climate Activism? Germans Block Coal Mines with their Bodies

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Deutsche Welle reports that that more than 1,000 green activists made their way past police lines and blocked trains at 3 important coal mines in eastern Germany on Saturday. A few clashes took place between police and protesters. The environmental group End of the Road claimed more like 4,000 people […]

Coal

Dig Beneath the World’s Far-Right Governments — You’ll Find Fossil Fuels

Basav Sen

(Foreign Policy in Focus) – From Brazil to India to the United States, extractive industries have aligned themselves with authoritarian governments waging war on minority populations. The world’s burgeoning far-right movements are far-flung and diverse, but in government they share a few core tendencies: They attack minority populations. They criminalize dissent. And they’re horrible for […]

Coal

Sun and wind displace Germany’s coal during summer months

Clean Energy Wire

By Benjamin Wehrmann | – ( Clean Energy Wire) – Solar power systems and wind turbines in Germany fed 39.3 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity into the public grid from June to August, a 10 percent increase compared to the same period last year, news agency dpa writes in an article carried by Focus Online, […]

Climate Change

In Just the Past Year, German CO2 Emissions fell by 33%, as Gas Replaced Coal

Clean Energy Wire

The end for German Coal could come Sooner than anyone Expects