Blackout: Coal, Climate and the Last Energy Crisis by Heinberg, Richard (2009) Paperback

by Richard Heinberg

Coal fuels more than 30 per cent of UK electricity production, and about 50 per cent in the US, providing a significant portion of total energy output. China and India's recent ferocious economic growth has been based almost entirely on coal-generated electricity. Coal currently looks like a solution to many of our fast-growing energy problems. However, while coal advocates are urging us full steam ahead, the increasing reliance on this dirtiest of all fossil fuels has crucial implications for energy policy, pollution levels, the global climate, world economy and geopolitics. Drawbacks to a coal-based energy strategy Scarcity - new studies suggest that the peak of world coal production may actually be less than two decades away; Cost - the quality of produced coal is declining, while the expense of transportation is rising, leading to spiralling costs and increasing shortages; and, Climate impacts - our ability to deal with the historic challenge of climate change may hinge on

Genres: Climate Change, Peak Oil, Nonfiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Richard William Heinberg is an American journalist and educator who has written extensively on energy, economic, and ecological issues, including oil depletion. He is the author of 13 books, and presently serves as the senior fellow at the Post Carbon Institute.

Reviews

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Regardless of the consequences of peaking oil extraction rates, coal is the often overlooked driver of global economic growth. Coal provides the majority of the electricity responsible for our way of life and for consistent industrial production, around 49% of the electricity generated in the US comes from coal. When I worked for a coal-based electric utility company, one of the larger stations burned 18,000+ tons a day. And every bit of that coal was mined using oil based machinery, which required personnel using oil to drive to work every day. The relationship between coal and oil is rarely clear or explicit but easily and cheaply extracted oil provides a significant subsidy to coal used for electricity generation. As oil prices climbed in 2007 and 2008, Europeans and Americans have been immune to the idling plants and intermittent blackouts of China, South Africa and the rest of the world.Despite increasing fossil station efficiencies and the abundance of oil over the last 100 years, we use more coal now than ever and our rate of coal use is rapidly accelerating.

Energy analyst Richard Heinberg’s latest book, Blackout provides an in-depth review of why we should be concerned about coal and what we can expect as the peak energy output of coal continues to decline. Even if coal supplies can continue to fuel the growth of economies in developing nations, the environmental costs of such a result would be tremendous. CO2 emissions threaten to make the earth inhospitable to life and toxic ash residue is becoming a growing storage problem as exemplified by recent spills in Tennessee and Alabama. Heinberg uses Blackout as an in-depth literature review summarizing the known work in the field (which there isn’t much of) and takes the results of several studies to indicate that coal reserves are not as abundant as they may seem. In 1864 Edward Hull forecasted that 900 years of British coal remained, in 1984 estimates were down to 90 years and now the British coal industry has almost entirely disappeared. This is a common story in the history of coal reserve estimates because rates of consumption are never constant and resource extraction rates tend to peak and then decline. This has been the history of coal in every nation.

Surprisingly few studies have been undertaken to accurately assess coal reserves and the six that have been released recently indicate that we are headed towards a serious shortage in the net energy available from coal. The highest energy density anthracite coal has been used up leaving bituminous and sub-bituminous coal to burn. The lower energy densities of these coals mean that even more energy must be expended to transport the same amount of energy between its point of extraction and its point of eventual burning, i.e. the same amount of energy takes up a far greater volume. Heinberg uses these recent coal surveys to look at the coal supply situations of the United States, China, Russia, India, South Africa, Europe and others in subsequent chapters before detailing the impacts of burned coal on climate. Climate impacts of burning coal claim to be mitigated by technologies like integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC), coal-to-liquids, underground gasification and carbon capture-storage (CCS) but all these approaches look to significantly increase the cost of burning coal and are not applicable to most situations for numerous reasons.In summary, there is no technology that can keep coal from harming the climate, clean coal is an absolute myth.

At the end of the book, Heinberg uses all of this information to outline three possible scenarios for dealing with the reality of the situation. A maximum burn rate scenario devestates the climate and the economy when coal supplies run thin. A “clean” scenario devestates the economy and distracts attention from the problem of coal energy scarcity. A post carbon transition provides the least amount of pain but with a slightly lower standard of living. Blackout is a brilliant and concise book adding to the growing evidence that business as usual is no longer possible for a number of reasons.

[Logan Streondj · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book with an in depth analysis of the state of coal being much more dire than most people give credit. It seems many people and even some nations are staying in a state of denial to avoid dealing with the uncomfortable realities that coal is running out too, not just oil, and natural gas. It even covers some scenarios of possible futures which are at least marginally realistic, and even mentioned ruralization albeit once, still good stuff. Would recommend, and worth archiving.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

He may not get all the details right, but his general points (that we have enjoyed a period of uniquely inexpensive and accessible fossil energy, that energy prices are destined to rise dramatically, and that human nature tends to fixate on immediate convenience rather than long term planning) are inescapable.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nets out to 3 scenarios: 1. BAU and we are screwed. 2. BAU with carbon caps and we are screwed. 3. We move to renewables and we just might have a chance.

[Terry Oliver · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heinberg's output is prolific and always well researched - not as compelling as Peak Everything but worth reading.

[David Biello · Rating 2 out of 5]

estimating "proven" coal reserves is tricky business... carried out by two folks in britain. what?!