Coal Use Hits Record High in 2024 Thanks to India and China
As media pushes fear about record “hot” temperatures, a review of the science shows our main focus should be energy security.
Despite the elites deeming it a dirty fossil fuel, global coal use is set to reach an all-time high of 8.77 billion tonnes in 2024, marking the third consecutive year of record-breaking consumption. This surge is primarily driven by increased demand in Asia, particularly China, India, and Indonesia.
The elite media is trying to connect this data to the assertion of their proclamation it was the “hottest year on record‘.
World coal use is set to reach an all-time high in 2024, the International Energy Agency said Wednesday, in a year all but certain to be the hottest in recorded history.
Despite calls to halt humanity’s burning of the filthiest fossil fuel driving climate change, the energy watchdog expects global demand for coal to hit record highs for the third year in a row.
Scientists have warned that planet-warming greenhouse gases will have to be drastically slashed to limit global heating to avoid catastrophic impacts on the Earth and humanity.
Earlier in December, the European Union’s climate monitor Copernicus said 2024 was “effectively certain” to be the hottest on record — eclipsing the mark set just last year.
The pearl-clutching climate cultists are neglecting a few considerations in their hand-wringing analysis. To begin with, most nations (or at least those not led by western-civilization-hating eco-activists) will act in accordance with their own interests.
In other words, the Iron Law of Electricity is in effect.
This surge in demand for hydrocarbons to produce electricity proves once again, that electricity is the world’s most important and fastest-growing form of energy.
It also proves what I call the Iron Law of Electricity, which says “People, businesses, and countries will do whatever they have to do to get the electricity they need,” I’ve also stated it as “when forced to choose between dirty electricity and no electricity, people will choose dirty electricity every time.
But let’s consider the assertion that “it’s the hottest year on record.”
How can these “experts” be so certain? Historical temperature data is often incomplete, with vast regions lacking measurements. In 1884, for example, there was minimal to no data available for large parts of South America, Asia, Australia, the Arctic, Canada, Russia, Greenland, and all of Antarctica. This fact was actually recognized when the media tried to gin up a panic about the next Ice Age during the 1970’s.
A 1978 New York Times article highlighted the lack of data, specifically from the southern hemisphere, making it difficult to draw reliable conclusions about global temperature trends. Similarly, the Climatic Research Unit in England’s map for July 1884 exhibited significant regions with missing data, further compounding the challenge of constructing an accurate global temperature map.
Station relocations or environmental changes around stations (e.g., urban development) can alter readings. The urban “heat island effect” has been identified as a serious issue by several climate scientists.
Ocean temperatures must be considered, and there are many challenges in determining the average ocean temperature. The ocean’s immense volume makes comprehensive sampling difficult. Different areas and depths of the ocean can have drastically different temperatures. Past measurements were often limited to specific shipping routes, providing incomplete coverage. And the role of ocean currents on climate, which is important, is neglected in favor of making the life-essential gas, carbon dioxide, the main culprit in the “climate crisis” myth.
But even if this were the “hottest year on record”, would it really be only due to carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels?
I would like to introduce the Bray and Eddy cycles, two significant solar cycles that have been observed to influence Earth’s climate over long periods.
Philip hasn’t yet heard … the Bray & Eddy solar cycles are still in their warming phases — and so we will continue to warm for many more years — which is good because global warming and increasing CO2 benefit life on earth. https://t.co/tMpek4QIc3 pic.twitter.com/7HG7uED8Ig
— John Shewchuk (@_ClimateCraze) December 12, 2024
The Bray cycle has a periodicity of approximately 2450 years, and lows in the cycle are associated with colder periods and glacial advances. The Eddy cycle, also called the millennial cycle band, is related to grand solar minima, which occurs approximately every 1000 years.
The cycles tend to influence climate through several mechanisms:
- Changes in stratospheric ozone content and pressures.
- Alterations in tropospheric weather patterns.
- Impacts on wind patterns, ocean currents, precipitation, and global average temperature.
The interaction between these cycles can lead to more severe cold periods when their lows coincide..and warm periods when their highs match. While the exact mechanisms are not fully understood, plenty of evidence suggests these solar cycles play a significant role in long-term climate variability.
As many at Legal Insurrection point out, correlation is not causation.
The only takeaways from the coal use data are that countries with sensible leaders are looking to the energy needs of their citizens and that climate is too complex an issue to attribute to a gas that is 0.04% of Earth’s atmosphere.
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Comments
“Climate Change™️” is a Marxist scam.
Change my mind.
To the extent that the earth’s climate changes – and it certainly does – no amount of Human Resources will have any effect upon it. As has been demonstrated over and over again, if Mother Nature wants you dead she always gets her way.
We’ve made remarkable progress in cleaning our environment through thoughtful regulation (not the existential kind preferred by eco-marxists) and adoption of cleaner sources such as natural gas.
I’m far less worried about what happens in China or India as I am about what progressives want to impose upon us here.
But Weatherphobia is a real mental disease.
Individuals are so afraid of minor changes in weather patterns they are willing to destroy economies, impoverish nations and starve children to forestall climate changes they will not live long enough to personally perceive.ut Weatherphobia is a real mental disease.
Individuals who are terrified of minor weather changes (presented as apocalyptic by the media) are willing to people and starve chination if they feel like it will forestall climate changes they will not live long enough to notice.epercB
I just wish there was a delete or edit button.
Do you find it interesting how the west is being forced to give up coal, oil and natural gas just so China, India and a few other countries can burn more more cheap, reliable coal. At the same time the west mandates itself to unreliable, inefficient and expensive “renewable energy “. Something wrong with this picture.
I suppose we know why there are no climate protesters in China—it is already communist
This points out exactly what I have gently trying to explain to the virtue-signaling EV driver/True Believers for years.
The West (The Americas, Europe, and Japan, and Australia) comprise about a billion people. China, India, Africa and the middle east collectively comprise about 5 billion.
Even assuming man-made climate change were real, and “The West” has twice or three times the impact of the rest of the world, it’s a fool’s mission to punish the west since that won’t do the job, and it’s criminal to say that the rest of the world can’t have heat in their homes, cars, etc, etc, until they can go pure renewable electric (and no they can’t have nuclear, I’m told).
Ultimately the efforts of the West are like trying to vacuum a rug using a few drinking straws.
As for plastic pollution, almost 93% of the plastic in the oceans comes from 10 Rivers in Asia.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/stemming-the-plastic-tide-10-rivers-contribute-most-of-the-plastic-in-the-oceans/
So why the hell aren’t we focusing on cleaning those 10 places? It’d be cheaper and more efficient, but no.
We should be ramping up our coal use. Coal-fired plants are among the cheapest, most reliable, most convenient, and easiest to maintain electric generators. On top of that, we have enough coal for 1000 years.
It is a shame that conservatives have been scared off of even talking about coal-fired electricity generation.
Imagine Chinese leaders waking up every day and having a chuckle about how willfully stupid Western warmists are to compete against.
I grew up being taught how to keep a coal fire going in the furnace (it requires more than just shoveling more coal). Today I wish I had a local source for coal, it’s easier to store than wood for the stove kept for emergency heat in case of power loss.
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