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Denmark Plans To Be Coal-Free In 10 Years
merbs writes "Earlier this year, Denmark's leadership announced that the nation would run entirely on renewable power by 2050. Wind, solar, and biomass would be ramped up while coal and gas are phased out. Now Denmark has gone even further, and plans to end coal by 2025.
Russia has demonstrated that it is unwilling to engage in above-board transactions for their fuel exports. It is in every country's national interest to reduce dependency on imports when they can neither control the supply nor rely on the supplier to operate as a business rather than as a belligerent nation. If anything, Russia's recent behavior has reinforced this for Europe, and given the Europeans incentive to get off of Russia's exports.
It's a shame that Denmark can't get off of natural gas sooner than coal.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
http://shrinkthatfootprint.com...
Denmark pays a whopping 41 cents per kilowatt hour.
OUCH !!!!!!!
3.5 times the avg cost in the U.S.
It really doesn't take much for other energy sources to beat that. Going out on a limb here I suspect renewables could be cheaper by just not being subject to whatever it is they do that makes their current energy sources ridiculously expensive.
Ah no. I have to say citation needed. Coal demand is increasing not decreasing.
1990 coal production - 4677mt
2013 Coal production - 7823mt.
Coal mines are only shutting if they were borderline operations. Do not confuse closing a mine that is uneconomical at the current price, a price that is the result of a world wide economic down turn, with a longer term move away from coal.
ref - http://www.smh.com.au/environm...
You know that it is those miners that allow you to have the lifestyle to which you have become accustomed? Like it or hate it without mining the Australian economy is in trouble in a big way. We have always been a primary industry economy, we either farm it or we dig it up. That is not going to change any time soon, we are in a shitty location to be a manufacturer, too far from anywhere. We do not have the capital or employment structures to be an effective IT startup area (see employee share scheme laws). Our population is too small to be the critical mass needed for some other type of business that I can't think of.
We are however very very good at mining, oil & gas extraction and processing. You may disagree with doing it. You may think it is raping the planet. But you reap the rewards of that industry living here.
Also you share a really big land border with the biggest consumer nation in the world. If you build something good in Canada you can be selling it in the US for the price of a truck shipment.
If you build something good in Australia it has a really really really long way to go before it can be consumed in the US.
There is a reason why we produce large quantities or iron ore, copper, bauxite, coal, uranium, lead, zinc, and gold. It is because the primary consumers of those are close by (China and India). Brazil is Australia's biggest competitor in the floating traded iron space and Australia wins a lot of the time because we are physically closer to China.
A lot of the Scandinavian housing stock is highly insulated so less energy is used to heat it, keep it warm or cool it and keep it cool. If all houses where built to or close to the Passivhaus specification , energy use would drop and people would spend less on energy.
"The hands that help are better far than lips that pray." - Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899)