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EU Earth

The EU is Banning Almost All Coal Mining on Jan 1 (futurism.com) 351

Every unprofitable coal mine in the European Union must cease production by the first day of 2019, the date on which all public funds for the mines will come to an end. From a report: In Spain, that means that 26 coal mines are about to close up shop, according to Reuters. This move away from coal is a refreshing bit of bluntness -- letting the failed remnants of a fossil fuel industry fade away -- compared to how the federal government in the U.S. is grasping at anything to keep coal alive. But it remains to be seen how much of an impact the coal closures will have in the ongoing effort to curb climate change. The deadline was set back in 2010 as the EU sought to move away from fossil fuel dependence, according to Telesur. The EU wanted to end public aid to coal mines sooner, but groups from Germany -- which shuttered its last coal mine earlier this month -- and Spain are responsible for extending the deadline all the way to the end of 2018.
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The EU is Banning Almost All Coal Mining on Jan 1

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  • by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Monday December 31, 2018 @09:42PM (#57886896)

    Subsidies in general I'm against...

    However the real question is - will this have any impact or energy prices or availability in the EU, or in Spain?

    If not, great. But if it does cause prices to rise, or it means electricity becomes more reliably... well then perhaps there was more to the subsidy than just supporting coal.

    Ending the use of coal is a noble goal, if for no other reason than the reduction of real pollution. But we also have to be careful not to leave too many people out in the cold, to have alternatives.

    • The French have nuclear power down pat -- cheap, reliable, efficient.
    • Subsidies in general I'm against...

      However the real question is - will this have any impact or energy prices or availability in the EU, or in Spain?

      If not, great. But if it does cause prices to rise, or it means electricity becomes more reliably... well then perhaps there was more to the subsidy than just supporting coal.

      Ending the use of coal is a noble goal, if for no other reason than the reduction of real pollution. But we also have to be careful not to leave too many people out in the cold, to have alternatives.

      So basically, you are against subsidies except if they result in price increases for you? You can't have your cake and eat it...

      • So basically, you are against subsidies except if they result in price increases for you?

        I don't live in the EU.

        I am for getting rid of subsides ASAP. I don't care if that affects me, I care if removing them hurts people who have little to no means to care for themselves....

        Shouldn't you be? I mean, what do you have against the poor anyway Scrooge?

        Freischutz

        OHHHH German. I get it.

        P.S. am half German myself.

    • They/we just closed the domestic mines.
      Now we import coal till the power plants are shut down ... another 15 - 30 years to go.

  • EU countries will just import more coal from overseas.
    • And more natural gas from Russia.
    • yep. After all coal isn't just used as fuel, it is also used to make steel and cement and other more low volume products like carbon fibre.
    • by AHuxley ( 892839 )
      Paying for energy imports. Great for that balance of payments.
      If only some local energy supply could be extracted from underground using a nations own currency.
      Work for local people. Wages and decades of production. None of the politics and import costs.
      Energy security and not having to import from difficult nations.
      • We don't import much energy from difficult nations such as the USA ...

        Then again, the most important energy we import is: oil.

        No idea why people like you nitpick about a little bit of coal, where ever it comes from, and a little bit of gas, where ever it comes from. In the big picture it is completely irrelevant. And: Germany has its coal exhausted. We have more or less the gas exhausted, the oil is gone long ago. Except for wind and solar: we import all energy, and will do so for ever!

  • by Lefty2446 ( 232351 ) on Monday December 31, 2018 @10:42PM (#57887064) Homepage

    The ending of government subsidies to coal mines will have an equalising effect on the cost of coal (up to the new cost of production) making it easier for renewables to compete on an even playing field.

  • by CanadianMacFan ( 1900244 ) on Monday December 31, 2018 @11:05PM (#57887144)

    All that is being banned is government support of coal mines. If a billionaire wanted to run a money losing coal mine they are more than welcome to. They just won't get any help from the government to keep it open like they would have up to today (2018/12/31).

    Closing mines doesn't mean anything, except for impacting the people working there and in the town nearby. The power plants will just get the coal from the mines that are profitable. When the EU is closing the coal fired power plants and replacing them with something that generates fewer emissions then they'll see the reductions that they are seeking.

    • Closing mines doesn't mean anything

      Indeed, but remember they aren't "closing mines". What they are doing is refusing to inject subsidies into the industry. The net effect will have to come from somewhere, typically that will be in the form of higher prices making coal power less attractive and viable.

      The immediate impact is zero to the environment (aside from the local town being able to breath clean air). But in the long run this does have an effect which is incremental on all the other pressures being faced.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Tuesday January 01, 2019 @05:20AM (#57887812) Homepage Journal

      Closing the mines is a big step forward. Firstly it sent a very clear signal to everyone that coal is going away, and as such industries that rely on it have been switching to alternatives. They delay to 2019 was to allow that it happen.

      Even the remaining coal fired power plants are changing. Many are relatively new, replacing older more polluting ones with designs that allow them to better integrate into a grid high a high level of renewable energy. There are far fewer of them too. For example Spain is back to 1980s level of coal powered electricity generation and headed down.

  • The others become MORE profitable.

  • I see a market for superior American coal to power all those EU coal-fired power-plants. We can put our coal miners back to work, provided that safety regulations are enhanced to maximize cashflow. That coal will need to be transported to the customer. I foresee fleets of supertankers outfitted with giant wheels that allow them to cross both mountain ranges and oceans. Make the wheels from frozen humus and the chickpea surplus is solved. Kill two birds, or a farmer and an miner, with one stone I say.
  • If most coal mines close, it will drive up the price and make it profitable again!
  • by dschiptsov ( 4126095 ) on Tuesday January 01, 2019 @04:53AM (#57887754) Homepage
    Cars contribute immeasurably more to CO2 emission. What to really do something? Force govt agencies to buy electric cars only. Yes, it is more costly, it requires an infrastructure, but it will work, and it is beneficial in the long run because it creates jobs and is basically the same as spending on infrastructure projects which all governments love (employment, kickbacks, hype).
  • article is bullshit (Score:3, Informative)

    by Tom ( 822 ) on Tuesday January 01, 2019 @06:27AM (#57887970) Homepage Journal

    The article is bullshit, or in todays terms, fake news.

    The opposite is true, at least for Germany. We are keeping our old coal power stations running while shutting down nuclear power. There has been a conflict this autumn over the expansion of one of several surface mining sites. This is surface mining [artwiese.ch] - the tiny trails in the foreground are from giant trucks.

    Coal is the only energy source that Germany has on its own soil. The amount of oil and gas we have is a rounding error, and there are no uranium mines. That is why all through the Cold War, coal has been kept running with subsidies, for military strategic purposes (energy independence in case of war). Because of that, no transition was even started until fairly recently, and jobs and industries are tied to it that can't be quickly moved elsewhere.

    And the government that is using every PR opportunity to point out how conscious of the environment they are is actually doing the exact opposite and has been doing that for years. Brown coal (lignite), the one that you get by surface mining, which has much lower energy density than black (bituminous) coal that you get from mines, is the primary coal used in Germany. Its share of the energy mix has been almost constant for the past 30 years [wikipedia.org], falling from about 38% to about 29% in that time, or 0.3% per year on average. At that speed, it will be another century until we stop using it.

    • by ffkom ( 3519199 ) on Tuesday January 01, 2019 @08:09AM (#57888144)
      The article might be badly written such that it is easy to misunderstand it as announcing the closure of all coal mining - which certainly does not happen at this point.

      But "bullshit" could be attributed to some of your statements, namely: "Coal is the only energy source that Germany has on its own soil." - No, Germany has so much (non-fossil) energy sources available that it has been a net exporter of (electric) energy consistently for the last years. And the statement "there are no uranium mines" is true only if you add "active", as there is plenty of Uranium still available from the mines in the Erzgebirge, those mines are just not active because they would be unprofitable to run at this point.

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