Coal is the Cornerstone

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https://www.coalzoom.com/article.cfm?articleid=40018

https://www.coalzoom.com/article.cfm?articleid=39953

"Coal has underpinned China's massive and unprecedented growth in output, fueling an economic miracle" The International Energy Agency (IEA)

EIA projects power generation must increase 1,400 TWh in 20 years. Coal is the most available, reliable and affordable fuel to meet this demand. EIA projects a 25% decline in gas generation. Nuclear has a moribund supply chain that would take decades and massive resources to refurbish. Data Centers require stable power 24/7, not a crazy quilt combination of solar, wind and batteries.

The new wave of Data Centers cannot proceed without more coal to provide electricity 24/7. China and India are building out their coal baseload. The US is drifting toward a hodge podge of intermittent coal, wind and batteries. Unless the US is willing to cede a large part of future AI to other countries, baseload from coal needs to expand.

Modern cities cannot be built without steel, and coal powers 70% of steel production. By 2050 Asia’s urban population will increase by one billion and Africa’s by 700 million - a new London every 48 days. Coal provides the building blocks of cities- steel and cement with electricity as the binder. Demography is reality. “Net Zero” technologies are merely untested hypotheses.

New technologies are available to support coal use. Washington University’s Consortium for Clean Coal Utilization is on the cutting edge with their Fuel-Staged, Pressurized Oxy-Combustion (SPOC) Technology: Ultrahigh plant efficiency, low capital costs, compact modular boiler design, removal of SOx, NOx and mercury in a single step, highly flexible plant operation to compensate for variations that wind and solar produce. For new build or retrofit.

Energy is the foundation of national security and coal is the cornerstone. China controls over 75% of solar panel production and 60% of turbine manufacturing. The US relies heavily on Chinese imports for battery storage components. Nuclear has a long lead time and is prohibitively expensive. Natural Gas is the most price volatile of all fuels. The US has 27% of the world’s coal.

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Stop closing coal plants, re-commission plants that were prematurely retired and build new plants using clean coal technologies (e.g. Supercritical). The National Electric Reliability Council: “coal-fired generator retirements… have caused a sharp decline in anticipated resources … new generation is insufficient to make up for generator retirements and load growth”

Coal is a global reality, providing 35% of the world’s electricity - 4 times more than wind and 7 times more than solar. Gas generation would have to increase 55% to match coal. Coal energy produces 70% of the world’s steel and 60% of cement. Thus, global coal consumption in 2024 increased to an all-time high of 9.5 billion short tons.