Claire’s Zero Coal Pledge
January 4, 2024
By Paul Homewood
https://twitter.com/ClaireCoutinho/status/1730885523143524790
December 2023
.
January 2024
45 Comments
Comments are closed.
“We do not believe any group of men adequate enough or wise enough to operate without scrutiny or without criticism. We know that the only way to avoid error is to detect it, that the only way to detect it is to be free to inquire. We know that in secrecy error undetected will flourish and subvert”. – J Robert Oppenheimer.
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
Tell us Claire how CO2 is some kind of poison and being reliant on EXPENSIVE IMPORTED energy fulfils the brief of ‘Energy Security’? Britain’s enemies are writing our energy policy.
Well she is a member of the Consertvative Environment Netwrok, so you wouldn’t expect her to support a sensible energy policy
Strong letter to my MP about that, Phillip.
It just shows how incompetent these Ministers are, in both energy and basic science
She is just a silly little girl who didn’t get where she is due to talent but because Sushi is her mate. Sadly it is unlikely she will get kicked out as this it true blue ignorant moron territory. The previous idiot this seat was lumbered with was the black Remainer mate of Lord Call Me Dave who then answered his true calling as a LimpDumb and not been heard of since. The only plus is that in 2015 this was a seat where UKIP saw a big increase in their vote.
SO NAIVE.
having or showing a lack of experience, judgment, or information; credulous:
She’s so naive she believes everything she reads.
He has a very naive attitude toward politics.
having or showing unaffected simplicity of nature or absence of artificiality; unsophisticated; ingenuous.
What is the point, India, China, Far East are building coal stations as fast as possible.
According to the IEA the growth to 70% of world coal consumption in China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines in 2023, more than offset the big declines in the EU and US as well as the smaller declines in Korea, Japan, Canada and Australia. They expect China and India alone to be responsible for 70% of global coal consumption by 2026
IEA ‘Coal 2023 Analysis and forecast to 2026’ (Dec 2023)
Just popped over to X and reminded Claire of this “pledge” and how it has turned out.
She got quite a hammering on Twitter.
Coutinho’s Zero Coal?
She is Conveniently forgetting the 150 tons of coal required to make an onshore turbine, the 250 tons of coal for an offshore turbine, the 1200 tons of concrete, for each turbine, carted uphill by smoke belching lorries and dumped permanently on our fragile, upland ecosystems and, of course, the bird slaughter continues with impunity.
Ah…but that’s another country’s coal. 🤔
Without coal today and over the coming week, there would be power cuts.
Naïve is not the word.
Just another inept (ex investment banker) Energy Minister, with zero competence in energy, leading us into fuel poverty, power cuts, power rationing and useless net zero nightmares
It’s called “energy security.”
Great example to note the reduction of coal use in the US and Norway. Both countries have very large reserves of natural gas. Norway and the US have cheap electricity. Norway generates most of its electricity from hydroelectric, the US from natural gas.
I read recently that Norway will be exporting much more natural gas to Germany to make up for the loss of cheap Russian gas. I’m sure the UK will be tapping into Norway’s reserves since the UK seems reluctant to drill for its own helping to ensure that Norway gets a high price for its natural gas.
While paradoxically the Norwegian government is strangling the oil and gas industry with ever increasing BS carbon taxes and new dreamed up ways to force projects out of being economic. No better example of this exists than the shear asininity of electrification of platforms….. one consequence of this Olympic level of stupidity is the need to flare the gas used offshore to power the rigs! You cannot ever under estimate the level of asininity and “white man speaks with forked tongue” which walks the corridors of power where power and not running a country is the goal.
USA ‘powering past coal’? Where to?
U.S. LNG Growth Sparks Climate Activism Uproar
Jan 03, 2024
Last year, the United States became the world’s largest LNG exporter, dethroning Qatar and Australia.
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Natural-Gas/US-LNG-Growth-Sparks-Climate-Activism-Uproar.html
Claire Coutinho
His Majesty’s Secretary of State for Net Zero Energy Security. (sic.)
What an absolute oxygen thief.
Interesting that coal (all imported now, thanks to our Beloved Leaders) has been providing a steady GW of energy for most of today and almost every morning since for the beginning of last month.
Where will that come from after Ratcliffe closes in September, little Claire? Wind, wallowing in obscene subsidies, producing a pitiful 3.2 GW. Solar, nothing. Belgium, Norway, France keeping our lights on (at huge cost to the UK.)
Her Christmas message (24 Dec.); – “Thank you to everyone working over Christmas to keep the light on and make sure our turkeys can be cooked.”
The first turkey that needs to be roasted is you, Ms. Coutinho.
Martin, the question I would like CC to answer us: when did you come to the belief that closing coal generation and Net Zero was a vote-winning strategy?
I wonder if her views are handed down from the WEF via the CEN?
If not directly from Klaus, surely from Lord Goldsmith and Stanley Johnson.
Nice “Christmas Cards” from Dale Vince as a bonus.
Christmas is actually the lowest demand day of the year, because almost everything is shut. We would be in deep trouble if we couldn’t handle that.
Don’t worry, some really bad people are working night and day on just that, aided and abetted by a legion of useful idiots.
Supposedly DESNZ think they can acquire at least 6.4GW of secure capacity in February for operation by the end of the year in the T-1 auction. Not sure where they think it will come from.
Are they claiming this will be 6.4GW of completely new dispatchable capacity commissioned by the end of this year?
I think they allow any capacity not previously committed to a capacity market contract, suitably derated.
Who briefs these people and what may I ask are their morals and political agenda?
Does she not know that if CO2 is the problem then burning coal produces less CO2 than does burning wood and wood products per calorie of heat produced.
The anti coal lobby is founded in myth and disinformation. A bit like the wariness of hydrogen which was brought about by it being used ahead of its technological moment in the Hindenberg. Technologies are available which allow for the clean burning of coal. My own thoughts are regarding the chemical value of coal as opposed to the burning of coal.
I’d lay odds that CC believes that we can drill for hydrogen.
In some places it’s possible, but maybe not the UK.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_hydrogen
Most of whatever you would like, or would not like can be found by drilling. Question is whether it is present in commercial quantities.
Coal ash disposal is still an issue.
Apparently the Italians used coal ash in with the gravel base for the 7,218 foot Boulder Clay Runway at their Zucchelli base….on Antarctica! You really couldn’t make it up.
Coal ash disposal is still an issue?
Curious, as the amount to be disposed is now a rounding error compared to twenty five years ago.
Back then, large quantities of fly ash from the coal power plants were used as additives in concrete manufacture, using its pozzolanic properties. So, using less portland or other cement, fly ash provided a more workable mix with significantly better resistance to various problems using conventional mixes. (Notably, heat of hydration induced cracking as concrete srts.) The use of the latter cement-sand-gravel mixes became largely restricted to particular high strength mixes for structural components like bridge beams that could be cast in moulds, properly cured and used for prestressed or post-tensioned units.
Furnace bottom ash was another widely used concrete additive.
For grades of fly ash that weren’t suitable for concrete production, the material was frequently and successfully used as engineering fill, often over a layer of compacted coarse minestone (from coal washing operations) and with the minestone used to form the outer banks. I could take you to many miles of major highways, especially in Yorkshire, constructed on embankments formed thus, or just on the compacted minestone.
Another, more arcane but very profitable product derived from fly ash, were the cenospheres, which you can think of as tiny vitrious hollow spheres that floated in fly-ash ponds. These were skimmed off and graded and used in a variety of products including fillers in plastics, cosmetics, abrasives and even in the construction of rocket nose-cones. The top grade stuff was sold allegedly for over £10,000 per tonne, way back then.
Don’t imagine GangGreen tells lies only about the big issues. They lie about everything. They probably can’t help themselves.
To Martin Brumby, thanks for the info. It probably explains why the Italians added it to the groundworks for the runway on Antarctica.
There was me just making light of it above but it probably made perfect sense given the cold temperatures.
That’s nice, Martin, but in the US, it is still a problem.
Really? Who says? The ash has many possible uses unlike the hydrocarbon consuming blades of their pointless bird killing windmills
https://www.epa.gov/tn/epa-response-kingston-tva-coal-ash-spill
https://response.epa.gov/site/site_profile.aspx?site_id=9065
Some of the imports might be coal power – I think the Netherlands one quite likely is. I don’t know if anyone else has heard this but some of the French power might also be coal as is it worth their while firing them up and earning some money from idiots who don’t have a functioning grid – take a bow UK and Germany.
The BritNed interconnector starts here at the Maasvlakte coal fired plant.
https://openinframap.org/#10/51.8971/4.0518
Details of what powers it here
https://www.gem.wiki/Maasvlakte_Power_Station_(Uniper)
Coal really isn’t anything worth considering directly from France but they often tranship German surplus to other countries so potential for German coal fired to UK is highly likely.
Julia Hartley-Brewer in Climate Change “discussion”
Our MPs should be forced to watch this clip
An Inconvenient Fact – Andy Lawton’s site shows coal was needed for half the hours of 2023.
Coal generation early in the year was to some extent enabled by high gas prices that meant that coal was competitive. In the latter part of the year, falling UKA carbon prices meant that the penalty on running coal was much reduced, again allowing it to compete, despite the much lower gas prices.
https://timera-energy.com/uk-carbon-allowances-diverged-from-europe-across-2023/
That is, runs were driven mostly by better economics rather than grid constraints. The more continuous operation also helped coal efficiency, compared with warming up power stations on standby to act as reserve.
The reality is consumer bills would have been much lower had we kept on our coal capacity in 2021 and run it as baseload.
‘That’s why it’s fantastic to have the USA, Norway and others join our Powering Past Coal Alliance today’
I’ve heard nothing about it in the USA. I think it noise. Happy horseshit.
1GW at 1700 and again our i/c friends aren’t being helpful so virtually every available CCGT on the system even with 11GW of wind. How on earth she thinks this will work if she decides to drive gas off the system as well it must NOT happen.