By John McClaughry
Conferees from 195 countries are meeting in Madrid this week to wage more war against carbon dioxide. The climate hawks must be chagrined by the news that China, the world’s largest consumer of coal, is building or planning to build 148 thousand megawatts of new coal fired power plants within the next few years. That’s nearly equal to the entire coalpower capacity of the European Union according to an analysis by Global Energy Monitor, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that is passionately opposed to burning coal.
Vermont’s carbon dioxide emissions from all sources are about 10 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year. Just one 1600 Mw Chinese coal plant would produce about as much CO2 in a year as all CO2 emissions in Vermont — coal, motor fuel, heating oil, natural gas and propane. The Chinese are building the equivalent of 92 1600 megawatt coal plants – each one putting as much CO2 into the air as everything Vermonters burn.
So if the green majority in the Vermont Legislature suddenly killed off 100% of our CO2 emissions, one 1600 Mw Chinese coal plant will restore all those emissions — and the Chinese are building 92 of them.
And the climate action crowd now wants us to join a 12-state group to impose a steadily rising new tax on motor fuel — the Transportation Climate Initiative — to meet our emissions goals? Gimme a break.
John McClaughry is vice president of the Ethan Allen Institute. Reprinted with permission from the Ethan Allen Institute Blog.
This article really puts things in perspective for intelligent, rational people. Vermont’s climate/environmental extremists care mostly about feeling smart and morally superior. Unfortunately their self righteousness harms Vermont working people and the elderly.
How many coal plants are there in the world today?
The EU has 468 – building 27 more… Total 495
Turkey has 56 – building 93 more… Total 149
South Africa has 79 – building 24 more… Total 103
India has 589 – building 446 more… Total 1036
Philippines has 19 – building 60 more… Total 79
South Korea has 58 – building 26 more… Total 84
Japan has 90 – building 45 more… Total 135
China has 2,363 – building 1,171 more… Total 3,534
That’s 5,615 projected coal powered plants in just 8 countries.
USA has 15 – building 0 more…Total 15
What Vermont does regarding CO2 is totally irrelevant.
Democrat politicians with their “green new deal” want to shut down 15 plants US in order to “save” the planet.
Because you could not get many Republicans off the sofa last November, the Socialist party now runs the U.S. House Of Representatives.
The zero carbon activists should be acknowledged for their concern over the plight of the planet.
But, they should be ready to accept the responsibility for ruining the economy of Vermont, if they prevail in passing the Transportation Climate Initiative. Somehow, they believe that they can cleanup the air over New England, when as pointed out by this report, twelve states aren’t going to accomplish anything. News groups have reported that China is going to sell coal burning power plants throughout Africa.
Instead of worrying about taxing the public into submitting to a power industry backed plan for solar and wind generation, the climate activists could be in the forefront of preparing the public for what is inevitably going to occur, planet wide. Passing the TCI will only leave people in New England more vulnerable to extreme weather. Besides, what do the zero carbon folks think their government’s will do with all that extra tax income?
John, I’ve been saying this all along. If these folks are serious about CO2 emissions, they should go after China and let these Vermont feel good climate change folks take a rest.
This is why most rational Vermonters are against this Liberal Carbon Tax boondoggle,
all one has to do is look at the world and there plans on curtailing CO2 emissions, nope
they don’t care and never will.
This article only points to China, now throw-in India, Russia and there are many more of
these polluting countries they could care less.
Now we have our Progressive Liberals in Montpelier and there ” Carbon Tax ” or now it’s
a “Carbon Fee”, just let me say if every Vermonter’s drives a ” Prius ” for the next hundred
years, it will not make a dent in the overall picture on CO2, just more feel-good policy, it’s
look what we’ve done
The only difference it will make is that working Vermonter’s will pay through the nose for fuel,
and I guess Liberal’s will sleep better at night thinking they have done something special.
Wake up people, Montpelier, little ideas from little minds, but hold onto your wallet.
Thank you, John, for making the comparison.
As everyone knows this RE mania to reduce Vt CO2 has absolutely nothing to do with the climate.
It has to do with perpetuating/increasing state government control over everything, related to energy or not.
It has to do with entrenched RE bureaucrats preserving and enhancing their domain, and their importance. Look at us what we have achieved!!
Vermont has spent about $3 billion since 2000 on RE follies, and has only increasing CO2 to show for it.
What a gigantic waste of money that has crippled and doomed the Vermont economy to near-zero real growth for year after year, by sucking the lifeblood out of the private sector.
I could go on for a while, but you get the drift.
Spot on, Willem. I’ve always thought there was something else going on besides “climate change”. When China and Russia take the same steps we’re making to “save the planet” then we can. In the meantime, they’ll keep expanding and getting stronger.
Try to give China a carbon tax. Maybe all our legislature should move there..