Greenpeace figures suggest record fall for global coal consumption
Global use of coal is heading for its biggest fall in history this year, an analysis by green campaigners suggests.
coal
Aid call for coal miners and power station staff
Coal miners and power station staff should be offered Government aid similar to that given to thousands of steelworkers made redundant, ministers have been told.
Climate change campaigners occupy opencast coal mine in Northumberland
Protesters say they have shut down an opencast coal mine on land belonging to Conservative peer and climate sceptic Viscount Ridley. Campaigners calling themselves “Matt Ridley’s Conscience” have occupied one of the diggers at Shotton surface mine, in Cramlington, Northumberland on Viscount Ridley’s Blagdon Estate. The group, a mix of local campaigners and protesters from across the UK, have also formed a protest blocking the road, locking their arms into red arm tubes as part of a protest calling for an end to coal mining to protect the climate.
Campaigners call for councils to dump fossil fuel investments
Local councils have lost up to £683 million from pension funds because of the falling value of investments in coal, campaigners have claimed.
Gas outdoes coal again as America’s favorite power fuel
For the second time in US records, natural gas eclipsed coal as the primary fuel for electricity generation.
New biomass process could be new dawn for power generation
A new revolutionary clean biomass fuel could be replace coal in power stations its developers claim.
Edenville continues coal exploration in Tanzania
Edenville Energy, the company developing a coal-to-power in south western Tanzania, is on track to deliver the project.
Letter between oil tycoon and Scottish Government calls for stance on fracking
Oil tycoon Algy Cluff warned Scottish ministers the day after a moratorium on fracking was confirmed that Scotland could risk losing £250million of investment. The multi-millionaire warned energy minister Fergus Ewing and Alex Neil that including his plans for underground coal gasification (UCG) in the moratorium would have an impact on Cluff Natural Resources (CNR) ability to “operate and invest” further in Scotland. CNR has ploughed ahead with plans to develop Britain’s first offshore UCG project in recent times, despite opposition from environmentalists, who feel the methods used are unsafe and require further testing.
Miliband seeks action on coal
Ed Miliband has asked ministers to act urgently to ensure one of Britain’s last remaining deep pit coal mines does not close earlier than originally planned. The former energy secretary warned that Hatfield Colliery in his Doncaster North constituency is under “very serious pressures”, adding action is needed to keep it open until summer 2016. The South Yorkshire mine has received Government loans to support its managed closure. In January, it was announced a short-term commercial loan of £8 million had been made available to support Hatfield Colliery Partnership Ltd’s closure plan.
Push to make renewables cheaper
A new international research programme is being launched to make renewables cheaper than coal within 10 years. The scheme’s backers, who include leading figures from business, government and academia, warn that cheap clean energy is crucial to keeping global temperatures from rising by more than 2C - seen as the threshold for dangerous climate change. Like the US programme in the 1960s to put a man on the moon, the Global Apollo Programme has a clear goal, in this case to make electricity from solar and wind cheaper than power from coal in every country and to do so within a decade.
Shell’s huge gas bet underscores Big Oil’s push to replace coal
BP Plc coined the slogan “Beyond Petroleum.” The new industry mantra might be “Beyond Oil and Into Gas.” Oh, and while we’re at it, “Down With Coal.” Consider Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s recent $70 billion acquisition of BG Group Plc -- clearly a huge bet that natural gas will prove to be its cash cow of the future. The petroleum industry’s move toward gas is hardly new -- the hydraulic fracturing shale revolution is in its second decade, after all. Still, Shell’s move is an emphatic confirmation that some among the Big Oil family firmly believe gas will play a growing role in meeting the energy demand of emerging countries such as China and India that are trying to move away from dirtier coal.
Climate fears prompt call over coal
More than four fifths of the world’s coal reserves cannot be burned if global temperatures are to stay below dangerous levels, a new study has suggested. A third of oil and more than half of gas reserves must also stay in the ground up to 2050 if the world is to limit temperature rises to 2C to avoid the most dangerous impacts of climate change, research by experts from University College London showed.
Coal to remain important energy contributor
Coal will remain an important contributor to the UK's energy mix into the mid-2020s at least, a Scottish supplier says. Fergusson Group's forecast came as it reported increased sales in its most recent financial year in the face of "challenging market conditions across the energy sector".