More coal outta China

[Undertoad]

While you were paying attention to other things,

China’s government said it would raise coal power capacity by as much as 20% by 2020, ensuring a continuing strong role for the commodity in the country’s energy sector despite a pledge to bring down pollution levels.

In a new five-year plan for electricity released Monday, the National Energy Administration said it would raise coal-fired power capacity from around 900 gigawatts last year to as high as 1,100 gigawatts by 2020. The roughly 200-gigawatt increase alone is more than the total power capacity of Canada.

...basically saying that their pledge on this was, ha-ha-only-kidding.

WSJ story behind paywall

[Gravdigr]

Shouldn't the thread title read "More Coal Into China", then?

Kidding, that's all I got to bitch about today. So far.

[xoxoxoBruce]

The pollution comes out.

[fargon]

And heads our way.

[Undertoad]

Financial Times: China ramps up coal power in face of emissions efforts

China has 987 coal plants and has now gone into ramping up construction on 121 more. That's more new plants than the US currently has in operation.

US = 86

EU = 149

Last year China raised its coal output by 25.5GW while the rest of the world lowered its coal output by 2.8GW

China's efforts will easily make all anti-emissions efforts in the US and EU into a pittance

But somehow the outrage is directed at ourselves. Narcissistically we believe we are the only answer when we are not even going to be the source of problem

Undermining our own growth when China is unwilling to do so is clearly suicide

Wasted efforts all around

[Undertoad]

Coal plants in 2018

White = Marked for closing
Yellow = Operating
Red = New

Carbon Brief: Mapped: The world’s coal power plants

[xoxoxoBruce]

Are you saying you'd rather do this? Not me.

[Luce]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Are you saying you'd rather do this? Not me.

I remember those days here.

[Undertoad]

NYTimes: Japan Races to Build New Coal-Burning Power Plants, Despite the Climate Risks (metered paywall)

Fukushima caused Japan to end its nuclear program (instead of modernizing). So now it's racing to build 22 new coal plants, big ones that...

would emit almost as much carbon dioxide annually as all the passenger cars sold each year in the United States

California is closing its last nuclear plant in 2024

Good luck

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Hmm... really time to do Thorium, and/or pebble-beds and Candus.

To light off thorium-232, you need a source of thermal neutrons -- or something that spits a lot of alphas, like a plutonium "spark plug" in the fuel rod. Transmutation yields U-233, which delivers the useful heat in its very rapid decay. This very hot isotope is awfully hard to handle and so cannot be very useful in nuclear proliferation -- its gamma output can fry electronic bomb triggers so things get, well, erratic -- but its heat will drive a steam turbine if you just friggin' leave it in the fuel rod.

Thorium's common, four times as common as uranium, and pretty much just comes in one isotope -- you don't need an Oak Ridge to make fuel of it. And at worst, you've got Plutonium For Peace into the bargain. Using it up, that is; IIRC you eventually have lead. Thorium's radioactivity is not especially frightening, either: alpha emitter, and a slow-ticking half life slightly longer than the age of the Universe, which accounts for being four times as abundant in the crust as uranium is. Probably supplied at less than one quarter of uranium's price.

Wonder what's developed since I first read of this in 2013? We've got six threads including searchterm "thorium" since that year and a couple more from earlier onsite.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Not a damn thing because the public is still worried about the radiation from their microwave oven might make their chicken reanimate or some shit. The word radiation/radioactive is a trigger to stop all reasonable thought.

Nuclear waste will creep into your house at night and smoke your cigars. Well bury the shit, we don't need a failsafe 10,000 year bunker, bury it in the nuclear test sites that are already keep out forever.

[Griff]

Thorium just needs better marketing.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Originally Posted by Griff

Thorium just needs better marketing.

And a Bronx Project...

[Griff]

If Republicans would pretend to believe in climate change arguments could be made to appeal across political boundaries.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Nobody thinks we aren't warming -- we people of liberty just don't consider neofascism or hyper-socialism any solution, and are enraged that anyone would offer either. Out upon tyranny and those who suspend their morals to enable it!

Free market, all unsung, has been quietly at work on it for ten years... anyone besides me willing to take notice? Do we indeed need outlawing stuff? I reckon we'll be shifting some met(allurgical) coal to feedstock for synthetic oil, and wouldn't that be nice! It's a 1940's technology that's price competitive down to $30/bbl -- as it stands. No telling what further innovations we'd come up with.

If you're genuinely worried about ppm of carbon dioxide, quit your Fascist bitchin' and go nuclear unreservedly. Solid-state pollutants have trouble running around promiscuously getting into things we'd rather they not.