17Oct

Embrace the Pragmatism of Low Emissions Coal Technology

In 2013, the World Bank Group decided to limit financial support for coal-fueled power plants to what it deemed “rare and exceptional circumstances.” It was a decision that almost immediately made perfect the enemy of the good and, as the World Coal Association (WCA) argues in a new report, has likely proved counterproductive to achieving […]
16Oct

Can America Support Millions of Electric Cars in Electric Age?

Via The Herald-News: There’s little doubt that a global technology revolution is under way. And the sweep of change over the past decade alone has been stunning. Electric cars and smart phones are proving that the world has gone high-tech. Many analysts now believe that a “deep electrification” of the U.S. economy is coming, too, […]
14Oct

Coal Production: A Differing Tale of Two States

Via The Bluefield Daily Telegraph:  It was an interesting tale of two states last week with regard to coal production in West Virginia and Virginia. In the Mountain State, officials confirmed that second quarter coal production gains in southern West Virginia had increased over a million short tons from the first quarter of the year to […]
12Oct

The Power Grids with Electric Cars

Via The Clermont Sun: There’s little doubt that a global technology revolution is under way. And the sweep of change over the past decade alone has been stunning. Electric cars and smart phones are proving that the world has gone high-tech. Many analysts now believe that a “deep electrification” of the U.S. economy is coming, […]
11Oct

From the Mining Association: The Case for Coal

Via The New York Times:  To the Editor: The United Nations’ recent report on climate change and your editorial (nytimes.com, Oct. 8) — both of which target specific fuels rather than promoting existing solutions — are fundamental to the emissions challenge the world faces today. Despite aggressive anti-coal campaigns, coal generates the same share of the world’s electricity […]
11Oct

Perspective on a Global Challenge

According to the U.N Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world must overhaul how it consumes and produces energy if global warming is to be slowed and eventually stopped. The IPCC’s proposed path forward would see the world all but drop fossil fuels by 2050. It’s a headscratcher. Nearly 80 percent of global energy […]
09Oct

We Shouldn’t Turn Our Backs on Coal Power

Via The Eastern New Mexico News: We’re now getting an idea of just how expensive shutting down coal plants can be. A study by IHS Markit, an energy research firm, shows that higher electricity prices resulting from a loss of fuel diversity, due in large part to the shutdown of coal plants, could lead to […]
03Oct

Listen to This

This week, the EPA held a listening session on the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule – its proposed replacement for the prior administration’s costly Clean Power Plan (CPP). The message delivered by the National Mining Association (NMA) and others who care about the reliability and affordability of the grid was clear: the ACE rule is […]
02Oct

NMA Highlights Alarming Loss of Fuel-Secure Electricity Resources and Potential Remedy in Comments to FERC

The design of the nation’s largest wholesale electricity market is contributing to the loss of fuel-secure electricity resources, while encouraging reliance on pipeline-dependent and intermittent resources, the National Mining Association (NMA) said in comments submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) earlier today. NMA’s comments support a properly expanded Minimum Offer Price Rule (MOPR) […]
26Sep

A Playbook on What Not to Do

The German Energiewende, or energy transition, was supposed to stir like a composition from Bach or Beethoven. Instead, it sounds like a fork stuck in a garbage disposal. When the Germans embarked on their grand pivot to renewable sources of power, they knew the effort was going to be costly but did they expect the […]