Asia's insatiable demand for coal plays havoc with climate

[Lord Beria3]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/news ... goals.html

“Coal met nearly half the rise in global energy demand during the first decade of the 21st Century,” said the International Energy Agency (IEA). Wind, solar, and gas have yet to change the overall picture.

The IEA said “insatiable demand” from Asia’s rising powers will gobble up a further 1bn tonnes each year by 2017, equal to the entire consumption of the US and Russia today. “If no changes are made to current policies, coal will catch oil within a decade,” it said.

By a rough rule of thumb, coal produces 238 tonnes of carbon per gigawatt hour (GWh), compared with 207 for heavy oil and 99 for gas. The IEA says coal already accounts for 43pc of global CO2 emissions.

“The situation is utterly dire,” said Jeremy Leggett, head of the UK Task Force on Peak Energy and Climate Change. “The window over the next decade is absolutely crucial. The danger threshold is a two-degree rise in average temperatures above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century. We’re currently on track for a rise of six degrees. The cognoscenti in the scientific world are terrified,” he said.

Good post from Ambrose on how King Coal will be used to 'kick the can down the road' of the oil crunch in the next 20 years.

[extractorfan]

Yes, the human race will burn all the oil, all the coal and all the gas we can as well as fuse all the nuclear material we can during which time we will try to technofix the environment leading to faster burning of oil, coal, gas.

These thoughts are depressing.