Tuesday, March 26, 2019, T+83, Part 3

Oh, oh, not good: IEA says carbon emissions hit record in 2018. Link here. Data points:

• overall, the increase was a "modest" 1.7% year-over-year
• problem: increasing coal capacity in Asia (see below); but China and India get a pass on emissions
• but look at this: energy rose by 2.3% last year -- almost double the average annual rate for the period since 2010; but most of that demand met by energy sources other than coal and oil (that would be .... drum roll ... natural gas)
• yup, and there it is -- natural gas was the fastest-growing energy source in 2018, accounting for almost 45% (which rounds to half) of the increased energy demand
• oil demand also increased, but not so impressively
• together fossil fuels covered some 70% of the higher energy demand; I'm shocked, shocked
• renewable energy not keeping up; I'm shocked; I'm shocked

Cleaning out my in-box. Can't recall if this was posted earlier. Many sources suggest 2018 was a "huge" year for EVs. See link below the graphic.

It's interesting to note the profound drop in EV sales starting in 2014 and ending in 2016: those were the very same years that Saudi Arabia opened the spigots, hoping to kill the US shale industry by flooding the earth with inexpensive oil and inexpensive gasoline. 



January, 2019, update here.

And with more EVs, China is going to need more coal. Really? Yes, really. Link here.

Data released by the Chinese energy bureau this week shows that the country added a whopping 194 million tonnes of coal mining capacity over the course of 2018. This revelation comes in direct contrast with China’s widely publicized promises to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels, especially dirty coal, as well as specific avowals to do away with excess mining capacity.

By the end of last year, according to numbers from the National Energy Administration, China’s total coal mining capacity had gone from 3.34 billion tonnes at the end of 2017 to 3.53 billion. These numbers do not even take into account a further 1.03 billion tonnes per year of already-approved coal capacity currently under construction, nor do they include another 370 million tonnes per year that are currently being extracted as part of a trial operation. What’s more, China’s National Energy Administration has already greenlighted an additional seven coal mining operations which altogether would have a capacity of million tonnes per year within a period of time which already started at the beginning of 2019.