King Coal Will Ride Again

What a difference a year makes!

first, this:

“There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot” Ecclesiastes 3:1-2

In case you’re wondering why I missed my regular Thursday post last week, I was sicker than a dog. An evil bug attacked my central nervous system and tried to kill me. I was pretty sure I was going to die. I’d much prefer to die at home, so twice when asked if I would go to the hospital, I said “NO”. My daughter, bless her, is nursing me back to health. Apparently God still has work for me to do before receiving me to be with him forever in heaven. He knows the number of our days.

coal

A little over a year ago, when we kept hearing that coal plants were shutting down by the Biden administration or being scheduled to shut down, some of us saw the foolishness of that policy. That’s when I wrote this:

At the time, most analysts and investors thought coal was dead.

Since then, the energy markets have completely changed. The need for energy is so great that there’s no sense fooling around with wind, solar, batteries, EVs, or chargers, or subsidizing such losers. Let them stand on their own two feet without taxpayer money. We can’t afford to waste any more time or money on anything but the most efficient forms of energy. It was the democratic party’s failure to recognize this and many other foolish policies that cost them the election. All their policies were built on a wrong premise - that CO2 emissions matter. It was a lie. Our air is only 0.04% CO2.

Nuclear power plants are the most efficient, but it will take many years to build a significant number of new plants. In the interim, gas, oil, and coal are essential for providing reliable power - in fact, to some extent they will always be needed to back up nuclear maintenance downtimes.

we have plenty

from EIA “As of January 1, 2024, the demonstrated reserve base (DRB) was estimated to contain 469 billion short tons of coal. In the United States, coal resources are larger than remaining natural gas and oil resources, based on total British thermal units (Btu). Once a year, we report remaining tons of coal in the DRB, which consists of coal resources that have been identified to specified levels of accuracy.”

coal has an edge

Gas, oil, and coal are all used to make steam for electric power generation. They are all much more efficient and reliable than any “renewable”, but our grid power systems need to be reliable all the time, with no interruptions. Here’s where coal has an advantage. Gas and oil will have occasional supply issues due to transportation, weather, or pipeline disruptions - but coal can be stockpiled right at the power plant - enough for 2 months full scale operation! During prolonged extreme weather situations, this can be a lifesaver.

big tech changes their attitude

Thomas Shepstone’s Energy Security and Freedom 3/15/25 posted a great article by Jo Nova explaining the complete turnaround of big tech’s scramble for adequate energy to power their data centers and other projects. No more catering to “renewables”. Forget it. They’re aiming for nuclear power and the needed fossil fuel powerplants to bridge the gap until nuclear can be built out.

new secretary of energy in town

Energy secretary Chris Wright , Monday 3/10/25: “The Trump administration will end the Biden administration’s irrational, quasi-religious policies on climate change that imposed endless sacrifices on our citizens,” Wright said at the CERAWeek by S&P Global energy conference. The energy secretary dismissed the previous administration’s focus on climate as “myopic.”

Natural gas is responsible for 43% of U.S. electricity production. There “is simply no physical way that wind, solar and batteries could replace the myriad uses of natural gas,” Wright said.”

another potential game changer for coal

As a startup, it will take a few years to confirm its success, but Frontieras North America has amazing promise for efficiently cracking coal into many useful products that in total will be a much better way than just burning it directly. I wrote about this in January:

reversal of over-strict rules that were aimed against fossil fuels

EPA Launches Biggest Deregulatory Action in U.S. History

Administrator Zeldin Announces 31 Historic Actions to Power the Great American Comeback

March 12, 2025

One last thing:

Thanks to Thomas Shepstone’s Energy Security and Freedom 3/18/25, I learned something else about coal - coal ash is full of rare earth elements! We don’t need to depend on supply from China - we have coal.

Contrary notes: I asked Frontieras about this. They answered that it was doubtful that getting rare earth minerals from coal ash would be profitable. Secondly, Bonner Private Research reports 3/19/25: (I’m skeptical that steel will be made without King Coal for coking. Notice the words “hope” and “could" that I emphasized below, but am including the quote for balance in my post.)

“A breakthrough in steel production is reshaping the industry and bringing hope for a greener future. After more than a decade of research, a team of Chinese scientists has developed a new process that’s not only 3,600 times faster than traditional methods but also eliminates the need for coal. This innovation could transform the global steel industry while significantly reducing carbon emissions.”