Global warming is forgotten as soaring energy prices and supply disruptions drive a return to coal

Global warming is forgotten as soaring energy prices and supply disruptions drive a return to coal

Subject :Environment

Context : Coal prices breached the $200 per short tonne (0.907 metric tonnes) mark in the US, with high grade Northern Appalachia coal averaging $204.95 in the first week of October — the first time that the oldest fossil fuel known to man.

Concept :

• As coal prices have soared to record levels, as the world’s major energy consumers, led by the China, the US, and Europe, have rapidly shed their “green” concerns and switched back to anthracite. Global warming can wait.
• India is not exempt to the global trend too.
• India plans to increase its coal-based power generating capacity by 25 per cent by 2030, taking installed thermal power capacity to over 265 GW by the end of this decade.
• Europe, till 2020 the leader in the transition to green energy, is not far behind in the turnaround.
• European coal imports have surged more than 35per cent this year, as most EU nations re-opened mothballed coal-based power plants.
• The breach of the Nord2 gas pipeline from Russia has worsened the situation. With winter almost here, coal usage is set to surge further.

Nord Stream Pipeline

• Owned by the Russian energy giant, Gazprom, Nord Stream the longest subsea pipeline, is an export gas pipeline which runs under the Baltic Sea carrying gas from Russia to Europe.
• Nord stream consists of two pipelines, which have two lines each.
• Nord Stream 1 was completed in 2011 and runs from Vyborg in Leningrad to Lubmin near Greifswald, Germany.
• Nord Stream 2 which runs from Ust-Luga in Leningrad to Lubmin was completed in September 2021 and has the capacity to handle 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year once it becomes operational.
• The twin pipelines together can transport a combined total of 110 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas a year to Europe for at least 50 years.
• The Nord Stream crosses the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) of several countries including Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany, and the territorial waters of Russia, Denmark, and Germany.
• In Germany, the pipeline connects to the OPAL (Baltic Sea Pipeline) and NEL (North European Pipeline) which further connects to the European grid.