Keep the coal in the hole

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/apr/04/mining-firm-withdraws-plan-for-uks-first-deep-coalmine-in-30-years

Finland Shuts Down Its Last Utility-Scale Coal Plant https://www.ecowatch.com/finland-coal-plant-closing.html

Today in Labor History April 3, 1891: Deputized members of the National Guard fired on immigrant strikers in the Morewood massacre, in Pennsylvania. They killed at least ten workers and injured dozens more. The workers were organized with the new United Mine Workers, and were fighting Henry Clay Frick, the same industrialist responsible for the massacre at Homestead the following year, and the man who anarchist Alexander Berkman attempted to assassinate, also in 1892.

Global coal capacity is 2143 GW. There was 25 GW of retirements last year, which sounds like it will take forever to close down all coal plants.

However renewables grew with 585 GW last year. That's a lot. I'm hopeful nearly all coal plants will shut down quickly when renewables reach a critical mass. It could happen any decade now.

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/global-coal-power-capacity-inches-up-2024-data-shows-2025-04-03/

Gee, I wonder how this will go...

Dirtiest US Coal-Fired Power Plant Applies for EPA Exemption
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-02/dirtiest-us-coal-fired-power-plant-applies-for-epa-s-exemption

Today in Labor History April 2, 1840: Émile Zola, French novelist, playwright, journalist was born. He was also a liberal activist, playing a significant role in the political liberalization of France, and in the exoneration of Alfred Dreyfus, the Jewish army officer falsely convicted and imprisoned on trumped up, antisemitic charges of espionage. He was also a significant influence on mid-20th century journalist-authors, like Thom Wolfe, Truman Capote, Hunter S. Thompson, Norman Mailer and Joan Didion. Wolfe said that his goal in writing fiction was to document contemporary society in the tradition of Steinbeck, Dickens, and Zola.

Zola wrote dozens of novels, but his most famous, Germinal, about a violently repressed coalminers’ strike, is one of the greatest books ever written about working class rebellion. It had a huge influence on future radicals, especially anarchists. Some anarchists named their children Germinal. Rudolf Rocker had a Yiddish-language anarchist journal in London called Germinal, in the 1910s. There were also anarchist papers called Germinal in Mexico and Brazil in the 1910s.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #zola #germinal #anarchism #writer #fiction #strike #dreyfus #antisemitism #rebellion #novel #author #books #france #mining #coal #journalism @bookstadon

#Finland #coal #environment #news #green

https://www.euronews.com/green/2025/04/01/finland-ahead-of-schedule-on-coal-phase-out-as-helsinkis-salmisaari-plant-closes

Finland Ending Use of Coal as Last Utility-Scale Plant Shuts Down https://www.byteseu.com/884820/ #Biomass #Coal #Finland #HeatPump #Helen #Helsinki #RenewableEnergy #Renewables #SalmisaariPowerPlant

There are also good news today: the city of Helsinki no longer needs to burn #coal for #energy. (Also in Finnish news: announcement of one of the largest investments in #wind power.) Despite everything, energy transition keeps progressing even faster than even optimists predicted. #climate

Deep fear in coal country: DOGE cuts put region's miners and families on edge

"The facility long entrusted with the protection of workers is among 34 centers in the United States that are expected to be shuttered in sweeping cuts to the federal agency that have not been felt in years.

In an ongoing effort to slash spending, the Department of Government Efficiency has targeted the mining agency in a move that surprised local inspectors"

https://www.post-gazette.com/business/powersource/2025/03/30/coal-mine-safety-doge-trump-spending-cuts-federal/stories/202503280062

How Finland has replaced coal power with wind in less than 10 years.

Power utility company Helen officially decommissioned its Salmisaari plant in Helsinki on 1 April, dropping coal to a less than 1% share of the country’s energy mix.

The closure of a coal power plant in Finland today brings the country to the brink of a full coal phase-out - four years ahead of schedule.

https://mediafaro.org/article/20250401-how-finland-has-replaced-coal-power-with-wind-in-less-than-10-years?mf_channel=mastodon&action=forward

"The closure of a #coal power plant in #Finland today brings the country to the brink of a full coal phase-out - four years ahead of schedule.

Alongside reducing emissions and increasing energy independence, it says the switch is also helping it to cut customers' electricity bills.

A surge in wind energy and government policy changes have led to a collapse of coal power in Finland in recent years."

https://www.euronews.com/green/2025/04/01/finland-ahead-of-schedule-on-coal-phase-out-as-helsinkis-salmisaari-plant-closes

Finland phases out coal, ahead of schedule:

“Imported fossil energy has been replaced with cleaner solutions that reduce climate emissions, while consumers benefit from lower energy prices”

“As Finland previously relied primarily on coal imported from Russia, the phase-out has also boosted Finland’s energy independence and, therefore, national security.”

https://www.euronews.com/green/2025/04/01/finland-ahead-of-schedule-on-coal-phase-out-as-helsinkis-salmisaari-plant-closes

"Finland's [almost] last active #coal-fired power and heat plant shuts down"

«Environmental campaigners Beyond Fossil Fuels pointed out that Finland's coal exit was "near total", with two small plants elsewhere in #Finland still using some coal in their output and a third coal plant remaining in strategic use for emergencies or consumption peaks.»

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/finlands-last-active-coal-fired-power-heat-plant-shuts-down-2025-04-01/

Today, Helsinki's last coal fired CHP shut down for good after a one-year extension. It and the remaining two coal plants elsewhere produced less than 1% of Finland's energy over 2024.
#energy #coal #renewables
https://www.euronews.com/green/2025/04/01/finland-ahead-of-schedule-on-coal-phase-out-as-helsinkis-salmisaari-plant-closes

China Coal-Fired Generation Additions Tied to Economics, Energy Security https://www.byteseu.com/882849/ #China #Coal #economy #Energy #EnergySecurity

Finland ‘ahead of schedule’ on coal phase out as Helsinki’s Salmisaari plant closes https://www.byteseu.com/882815/ #CarbonEmissions #CleanEnergy #Coal #Finland #FossilFuels #PowerPlant #WindEnergy

Europe one step closer to clean energy as #Helsinki ditches #coal: The near-complete phase-out of #coal puts Finns in a league with countries such as France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Austria, Portugal, Slovakia and Sweden. https://www.euractiv.com/section/eet/news/europe-one-step-closer-to-clean-energy-as-helsinki-ditches-coal/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=dlvr.it