West's hostility to fossil fuels — gets a reality lesson from Vietnam

© 2024 Peter Free

 

11 May 2024

 

 

Pertinent to my yesterday's energy blurb . . .

 

This news:

 

 

Electricity is a cornerstone of manufacturing operations in Vietnam. In 2023, coal produced more than 40% of all electricity in the country, while the country’s abundant hydro reserves contributed around 30%. Natural gas accounted for about 10%.

 

However, 2024 is expected to see a shortfall in hydroelectric generation because of less rainfall.

 

Simultaneously, electricity production with natural gas is being complicated by forecasts of higher gas prices.

 

So, the heavy lifting to meet power demand must now come from coal.

 

Vietnam’s move to increase coal use was inevitable. It cannot continually risk a huge demand-supply gap whenever dams go dry or gas prices skyrocket.

 

Across Asia, a similar phenomenon is unfolding.

 

China, the world's largest coal consumer, witnessed a rise in consumption in 2024.

 

There are a total of 1,142 operating coal-fired plants in China, which is five times more than in the U.S.

 

India. . . also saw an increase in coal imports and production. India has increased its spending on infrastructure, with an expected rebound in demand for coal-based steel and raw material manufacturing.

 

Indonesia has 254 operational coal-fired power plants and 40 new plants under construction.

 

Japan, too, is a big consumer of coal, being the top importer of Australian coal in recent years.

 

Like Australia, the U.S. has been a top source of coal imports for these Asian countries.

 

© 2024 Vijay Jayaraj, Asia Embraces Coal as the U.S. Rejects It, Real Clear Wire (08 May 2024)

 

 

Grasping physics and chemistry

 

Green Revolution (or not) nothing (except nuclear energy) adequately substitutes for the energy denseness of fossil fuels and the wide range of humanity-elevating uses they provide.

 

Argue with that fact and you are essentially suggesting the policy-forced extermination of most of humankind.

 

In contrast, it is unclear whether the alleged mechanisms of global warming would create a similar catastrophe.

 

Based on the geological-climatological record — insofar as we can interpret it — I doubt that the currently proposed climate emergency is — in its rapidly negative and human-caused magnitude — what it is claimed to be.

 

In other words, you will likely need a better reason than global warming for eradicating most of humanity and/or its standards of living.

 

No one sensible wants to go back to smokey caves, bear skins, or the parasite-bedeviled tropics and no modern defenses.

 

 

The moral? — Magic won't solve anything

 

Probably the best wise-up treatment for clueless Greenies  — and silly lawyers like Dana Nessel — is to plant them in a cool climate and tell them to happily survive with only a stick and a solar panel.