Coal Wars

Title: Coal Wars – The Future of Energy and the Fate of the Planet

Author: Richard Martin

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015 (First)

ISBN: 9781137279347

Pages: 274

Coal was used since ancient times for heating. But its true potential was realized only in the 18^th century when it fueled the Industrial Revolution that proved to be a watershed moment in human history. The world we now live in owes its origin to the coal-fired boilers of that era, which led to the manufacture of steel. Industry and transportation was dominated by coal for nearly a century. With the discovery of oil, coal took a backseat in the transportation sector, but with cheap electrical energy produced by burning coal, it again rose to prominence in national economies right up to the 1990s. Alternatives to coal came in the form of nuclear power and natural gas. Coal is cheap, but dirty. The noxious gases and toxic substances it releases into the atmosphere pose a serious threat to human health. Stringent air quality rules imposed after the Second World War cast a shadow on the coal industry. Massive investments and complicated technologies were required to retrofit the coal plants to make it compliant to the new environmental regulations. Added to this was the concern about excessive carbon dioxide emission due to coal burning and human-induced climate change. Richard Martin narrates the story of how and why the coal industry’s days came to be numbered, with examples from the U.S. and China, world’s  leading consumers of coal. He is one of America’s foremost writers and analysts on energy, technology and foreign affairs. He is the editorial director at Navigant Research, the premier clean energy research and analysis firm. He is a regular contributor to major magazines and has authored a book on thorium power movement.

Climate change is now an accepted scientific paradigm, but there are business executives still voicing dissent or doubts over it. They generally represent coal, oil and other conventional energy corporations, whose incentive to continue with the status quo can easily be discerned. Regulatory pressure on reduction of output from coal mines is building up in the U.S., but not in other countries, as narrated by Martin. However, the Green Lobby got a shot in the arm in the steep fall in natural gas prices around 2013, as a result of revolutionary growth in shale gas output in the U.S. Now, the society has a much cleaner alternate fuel at its disposal. Coal burning constitute 44% of carbon dioxide emissions, and almost half of world’s electricity is produced in coal-based power plants, which is expected to fall to 40% in a few years. As Martin observes, decline of coal industry in the U.S., and perhaps in the entire world, is irreversible. New, efficient natural gas power plants could be set up with the same amount of money required for setting up pollution control measures in a coal plant. Solar energy and other renewable sources like wind present other alternatives. Utility companies resist any change from established ways. Every rooftop solar array is another few dollars a month out of the pockets of power companies. In order to meet the rising costs, they’ll be forced to ramp up the energy rates, which will make more customers drop out of the grid and opt for distributed power generation. This will create a death spiral, ending up in the death of grid, as the book suggests just a bit too fancifully. Solar producers now export energy to the grid with net metering, and if the utilities’ lobbying is successful, they might be burdened with a solar surcharge to meet the spiraling costs of grid maintenance.

The book presents an abstract estimate of the U.S. energy scenario. Out of 580 coal power plants there, more than 90% are greater than two decades old. Coal power plants are phased out gradually, as the cost to adhere to clean air laws make the activity unprofitable. By 2020, an expected 49,000 megawatt will be retired out of service from a total of 340,000 megawatt – more, if gas prices stay low. In America too, the impact on states which produce dirty coal like Kentucky and West Virginia is more, whereas in Wyoming, the production is still healthy but the future prospects are not rosy either. On the world stage, Germany and Japan is returning to coal as both have decided to shut down their nuclear stations for political reasons. European Union is committed to environmental norms, and they have a peculiar 20-20-20 rule in place. This means that, by 2020, Europe will cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20%, increase use of renewable sources to 20% of total energy consumption and improve energy efficiency by 20%. Coal corporations have not been alert to rise up to the challenge. They are harking on to arguments about energy poverty and TINA (There Is No Alternative) factors, where coal is touted as the only cheap option for power generation. Some regions have gone for alternate industries to accommodate the labour force that will be rendered jobless by the end of coal. Cultivation of hemp is one such option in some areas, where it can be blended with coal in power stations for burning in boilers. Being a mildly psychedelic substance, other legal issues also have to be taken into account.

Martin makes a tour of China’s Shanxi and Hangzhou provinces to assess firsthand the future of coal industry in the world’s largest consumer of coal. In addition to vast, proven indigenous resources, the country has gone for imports on a large scale from the U.S, Australia and Indonesia. No industry is so dependent on what happens in China as the global mining sector. The author finds signals on the ground that China has woken up to the challenge, by closing down small-scale, inefficient mines and consolidate them into efficient, huge coal clusters. China’s coal peak is expected by 2020, but the author makes a guess that it is highly optimistic and 2030 may be a more realistic option. We find a curious fact on China in the book. Whereas in other countries, the environmental organizations are founded and run by individuals and concerned citizens, the government takes that role in China. Of course, these GOs (obviously, they can’t be called NGOs) have made some real effort on the ground and reaped major gains. Street protests over environmental concerns are eagerly taken up by Chinese society, which sometimes even turn violent. Is this a clever tactic of the regime to divert public attention from negation of civic rights to another issue where the government is perceived to be seriously concerned to curb air pollution? The autocratic regime has entered into a virtual contract with the people it governs – guaranteed growth of personal wealth and affluence to the citizens in return for unquestioned political obedience. This makes the uninterrupted operation of the nation’s factories an imperative for the rulers, who, like the proverbial man riding a tiger, is afraid to dismount. The environmental movement in China has succeeded in relocating a major proposed coal-fired power plant in Shenzhen, but couldn’t do anything about such a facility in environmentally fragile Hainan island, where the government ignored protests. However, Martin reposes optimism on China on account of three factors which he enunciates – dynamism of the people as compared to Americans, cooperation with the U.S, at least on matters related to climate change and its belief that every crisis equals risk plus opportunity for the country.

The book is written mainly with an American audience in mind. Most of the chapters describe the American scenario. The chapter on China is really the result of an afterthought to make it appealing to international readers. The cases of Germany and Britain are confined to the epilogue and there’s no mention of India, whose burgeoning appetite for coal has the potential to upset the climate change apple cart. Barack Obama and his ambitious program of curtailing coal is given due prominence. In the first half of the text, the author’s sympathies appear to lie with the sad plight of coal workers when their livelihood is disintegrating moment by moment. But in the latter part, the hidden claws are revealed and Martin goes for the jugular of coal industry. At times, it may feel like irresponsible criticism of that industry, with no viable alternative to offer. This book promotes natural gas as the panacea for the ills of coal, but that also is not entirely devoid of threat to clean air. Pollution with burning gas is less, but still significant. Improved fracking methods resulted in gas prices plummeting in 2014, which had a knock-on effect on coal prices. Now, both fuels are uneconomically priced, as far as the producers are concerned. If coal could be taken off the stage now, it will present a windfall to gas companies. Martin’s feeble attempt to extol the virtues of solar and wind power doesn’t hold much water on an industrial scale, at least for the time being. Natural gas, especially U.S. shale gas producers stand to gain considerable benefit in case any influential political leader takes this book a little too seriously. Lack of a brief history of the development of coal over the ages is a serious drawback to the book.

The book is recommended.

Rating: 3 Star