Coal, The Fuel We Ignore But Cannot Replace

[rangerrebew]

Coal, The Fuel We Ignore But Cannot Replace
16 hours ago Guest Blogger 
Dr. Lars Schernikau: Energy Economist, Commodity Trader, Author (recent book “The Unpopular Truth… about Electricity and the Future of Energy”)

Details including the full Blog on coal “Coal keeps the lights on… are we experiencing a “new” renaissance of  coal?” are available at www.unpopular-truth.com

For years now, coal has been treated like a relic… a dirty word,  something we were told would quietly disappear during the “energy transition”.

But yet, here we are… global coal consumption has definitely not declined, quite the contrary, it has only grown from roughly 6 billion tons in 2008 (when I wrote my first book on coal “The Renaissance of Steam Coal”) to around 9 billion tons today. Not to mention the seaborne trade which almost doubled! So the question is not whether coal is disappearing as we were told, it’s whether we misunderstood this useful black rock in the first place.

Our material world runs on something we are avoiding…

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/04/06/coal-the-fuel-we-ignore-but-cannot-replace/

[rangerrebew]

I'm sure it could be quite easily replaced, but at a MUCH greater price than coal.  However, if democrats take the midterms and the owner of the rights is a democrat, we may see it.

[catfish1957]

Pollution abatement technology has improved so much in the past 50 years, that the concerns of the past are unwarranted. 

There's enough coal from what I have read to last easily last 500 years.

[rangerrebew]

Pollution abatement technology has improved so much in the past 50 years, that the concerns of the past are unwarranted. 

Not if your real concern for the environment is control, not the environment.  If so, that's all they have.

[DefiantMassRINO]

I thought anything made from plants was supposed to be "good".

Fake meat is made from plants and processed by Big Fake Meat, and it's considered "clean".

Why isn't coal, also made from plants and naturally processed by geology, considered "clean"?

Seems like a double standard.

Also, if eating plants is healthier, why are grazing animals so fat and delicious?

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Pollution abatement technology has improved so much in the past 50 years, that the concerns of the past are unwarranted. 

There's enough coal from what I have read to last easily last 500 years.

Maybe 1,000 years.

In any event, enough to proclaim it is an inexhaustible supply and much greater than any other oil & gas combined.

[catfish1957]

Also, if eating plants is healthier, why are grazing animals so fat and delicious?

I don't care what anyone says, I think the Cow is best tasting thing on earth. 

[Fishrrman]

catfish observes:
"There's enough coal from what I have read to last easily last 500 years."

Yes.
But there WON'T BE if we keep shipping it out to the Chinese and others at increasing rates.

We should keep what we have HERE for America's future.
Is it wrong to think decades -- centuries -- "ahead" these days...?

[IsailedawayfromFR]

catfish observes:
"There's enough coal from what I have read to last easily last 500 years."

Yes.
But there WON'T BE if we keep shipping it out to the Chinese and others at increasing rates.

We should keep what we have HERE for America's future.
Is it wrong to think decades -- centuries -- "ahead" these days...?

You're dead wrong.  Repeat:  We have a virtually unlimited supply of coal, as does the world.

I do agree, however, that we should never sell resources to our enemies.

Crude is another matter altogether.