coal

To survive the end of oil, China has resurrected an old German technology from World War II: turning coal into plastic

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While the world assumes that China’s energy transition is based exclusively on solar panels and electric vehicles — and, in part, it is, consolidating as the first great ‘electrostate’—, reality hides a much darker side. Faced with the outbreak of the Third Gulf War, Beijing has not even flinched. Beyond its immense strategic oil reserves, the secret of its resistance lies in an even more daring maneuver: the resurrection of German technology from World War II. An old German technology. Faced with the instability of oil imports, China has perfected the use of coal to produce petrochemical products. This synthesis technology (historically known as the process of fischer–Tropsch) was originally developed by Germany to sustain its military economy during World War II. Although it is widely known in the chemical industry, its main defect has always been the enormous pollution it generated. China has improved it. Far from settling for an outdated process, Chinese researchers have radically improved it. According to the state agency Xinhuaa team from Peking University has achieved a historic breakthrough by adding a minimal amount of methyl bromide (five parts per million) to the catalytic process. This surgically “turns off” the pathway that forms carbon dioxide as a byproduct, reducing these emissions from 30% to less than 1% and opening the door to near-green manufacturing to convert coal-derived synthesis gas (syngas) into olefins, the building blocks of plastics. At an industrial level, expansion is already a fact. As detailed South China Morning Postin Turpan prefecture (Xinjiang), construction has just begun on the world’s largest coal-to-ethylene glycol (a toxic compound used for plastics and antifreeze) project, with an astonishing capacity of 2.4 million tons per year. Even, as the magazine highlighted ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineeringresearch is being carried out on how to integrate this process (called PFTO) to chemically recycle tons of plastic waste, converting it into syngas and then back into light olefins. Did you see it coming? It is not the first time that China decides to take sides and prevent rather than cure. The Asian giant has decided to completely decouple its industry from maritime vulnerabilities and Western influence. “This is not China’s war, but Beijing began preparing for it years ago,” points out The New York Times. Everything accelerated during Donald Trump’s first term, prompting President Xi Jinping to demand complete “self-sufficiency” that would insulate China from any disruption to foreign supply chains. Time has proven them right. The war in Iran has brutally increased the price of crude oil, suffocating international petrochemical competitors that depend on black gold. In contrast, local Chinese coal has only gotten cheaper. According to Reutersthis has been a financial triumph: shares of companies such as Ningxia Baofeng Energy, which produces millions of tons of chemicals from coal, have risen 30% since the start of the conflict, while traditional Asian refiners such as Rongsheng Petrochemical have lost up to 27% of their stock market value. Furthermore, the Chinese media analyzed by Carbon Brief They insist on a unanimous nationalist message: in the face of a real emergency, coal is the only resource that the nation truly controls, acting as the great “ballast” guarantor of its national security. A change to other sectors. The change is undeniable. As revealed Bloombergthe country’s main coal miner, China Shenhua Energy, has cut its overall budget by 16%, but has almost doubled its investment in coal-to-chemical conversion, from 2.5 billion to 4.1 billion yuan by 2026. But at a devouring pace, as The New York Times provides information that measures the phenomenon: in 2020, China used 155 million tons of coal to manufacture chemicals; by 2024, the figure jumped to 276 million, and in 2025 it grew another 15%, single-handedly exceeding the total annual coal consumption of the entire United States. The research center CREATE confirms this trend in its reportconfirming that the use of coal in the chemical industry grew by 20% year-on-year only in the first half of 2025. Added to this is that, as the American media explains80% of Chinese nitrogen fertilizer (a third of the world’s supply) is already made with coal rather than oil or gas, allowing Beijing to keep its product at less than half the global market price. Behind it there is a very high cost. All this bold industrial maneuver has a severe climate cost that is already setting off international alarms. China’s draft 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) has set extremely cautious climate goals. As the experts explain CREATE and collect Financial Timesthe set goal of reducing carbon intensity by only 17% is “disappointing” and leaves room for the country’s emissions to continue growing between 3% and 6% in real terms over the next five years. This new government plan de facto reverses the international promise to “phase down” coal consumption, replacing it with a consumption “plateau” and explicitly protecting the large-scale expansion of the coal-based petrochemical industry. Only chemical projects already planned to be built between now and 2029 could increase China’s annual carbon dioxide emissions by an additional 2%. The forecasts are resounding. According to Bloomberg, By 2030, China’s chemical roadmap will massively stop using oil as a primary fuel (thanks to the adoption of its electric vehicles) and will take advantage of its modernized facilities to seek 85% self-sufficiency in all advanced materials and chemicals, displacing traditional giants. A feared crisis of overcapacity. The European ideas laboratory MERICS warns of collateral consequences: The Chinese domestic economy, with consumer confidence stagnant since the pandemic, has no way to absorb all this gigantic new production of materials and plastics. As a direct result, Chinese factories are forced to export their immense surpluses to the rest of the world at fire sale prices. This aggressive price war propelled China’s trade surplus to a stratospheric record of $1.2 trillion in 2025. According to the complaint MERICSthese massive exports are cannibalizing the industrial base of other nations; In the European Union alone, up to 500 manufacturing jobs are being lost daily due to the total … Read more

We wanted electric cars and solar panels. The Hormuz blockade has returned us to the era of coal and nuclear energy

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The Third Gulf War has caused what decades of climate summits tried to avoid: the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has erased 20% of the world’s supply of oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) in one fell swoop. Faced with the imminent threat of a large-scale blackout, governments around the world have put their energy transition plans in a drawer. However, to keep the lights on and the economy afloat, the immediate response has been to look back to the past: burn coal by the piece and resurrect nuclear power. The mirage of “bridge fuel.” Asia buys more than 80% of the crude oil and gas that transits through Hormuz, but the problem goes far beyond a simple ship jam. This crisis has destroyed one of the great pillars of the energy transition. As explained The New York TimesLiquefied Natural Gas (LNG) was sold during the last decade as the perfect “bridge fuel”: less polluting than coal, more reliable than intermittent renewables and capable of being transported by sea to any corner. That bridge just blew up. The damage is far from being repaired, and it is estimated that the infrastructure attacked It will take years to operate again. Added to this is that Iran has turned the Strait of Hormuz into a kind of maritime “VIP discotheque”deciding by hand which ships can cross. No one can depend on LNG ships to guarantee their sovereignty. The main problem: live without pantry. But there is a technical factor that has turned this crisis into an immediate catastrophe: lack of storage. Unlike the West, most Asian countries lack underground gas stores, leaving them completely exposed to supply disruptions. While nations like South Korea can last up to 52 days and Japan about three weeks, Taiwan walk on a wire extremely fragile, with a legal security threshold of just 11 or 12 days of reserves. Without a “pantry” to store the LNG, Asia has no room for maneuver: if the ship does not arrive on Monday, the blackout begins on Tuesday. This structural vulnerability is what has forced an unconditional surrender to coal. Coal’s dirty lifesaver. As Jonathan Teubner, the aforementioned analyst, perfectly summarizes by Financial Times: “No coal ship passes through the Strait of Hormuz.” That is the key to everything. Being a cheap, abundant resource that does not depend on the troubled waters of the Middle East, the most polluting mineral has returned with a bang. According to FortuneSouth Korea has removed the 80% operational cap for its coal plants, a decision that has drawn the ire of environmental groups who accuse the government of using “energy security as a pretext.” Thailand, for its part, is restarting plants it had dismantled last year. From Seoul to New Delhi: the dilemma of the powers. Japan, one of the world’s largest gas importers, has also bowed to the evidence, allowing its least efficient coal plants to operate at full capacity for a year. Energy desperation is such that in Japan There are already voices demanding cancel the emissions trading system, calling it a “death sentence” for the coal plants they now need to survive. In India, the situation is critical. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has warned of a “major challenge” ahead of the summer. To avoid massive blackouts, New Delhi has commanded giants such as Tata Power and Adani Power operate at full capacity, while Bangladesh seeks multi-billion dollar loans. Sam Chua, analyst at Rystad Energy, sums it up in Financial Times: We are not seeing a transition, but a brutal “destruction of gas demand.” Although it is not that simple: the money wall. This coal revival has a glass ceiling. As experts point out in Japan Timesthe banking sector flatly refuses to finance the construction of new coal plants for fear of being left with “stranded assets” (stranded assets) in the face of global climate commitments. That is, countries are squeezing their dirty old infrastructure to the last drop, but they can’t build new ones. Charcoal is the assisted respirator, but not the cure. The atom as a shield: the great redemption of uranium. Panic too has broken atomic taboos. Taiwan, whose government promised a “nuclear-free homeland” in 2016, has announced plans to restart two decommissioned reactors. The Philippines has charted a fast track to atomic energy by 2032, and Vietnam has just struck a deal with Russia to build its first reactors. Uranium is no longer seen as a threat, but rather as the only way to protect the electricity supply against maritime blackmail. The domino effect reaches Europe. What started as an emergency solution in Asia is already infecting the West. The crisis has forced the European Union to break its own historical taboos, admitting that Europe committed a “strategic mistake” by moving away from atomic energy. Brussels has already put 200 million euros on the table to develop Small Modular Reactors (SMR) by 2030. This shift shows a continental fracture: while France entrenches itself protecting its nuclear investment of 300 billion euros and blocks energy interconnections with the Iberian Peninsula, Europe assumes that it cannot guarantee its future solely with the sun and the wind. War rationing in the 21st century. While the plants uproot, the daily suffocation hit the streets. Philippines has declared a “national energy emergency.” In South Korea, the government implores families to take short showers and Samsung has prohibited its employees from driving to work based on the license plate. In Thailand, officials operate with work weeks for four days and they are prohibited from wearing ties in order to raise the temperature of the air conditioning. The collapse is so severe that Thai ambulances have taken to Facebook to beg gas stations to reserve diesel for them to save lives. The collateral damage. The scope of this blockage transcends the electricity bill. If the conflict lasts until June, Bloomberg alert that the barrel could touch $200, a price designed to cause “demand destruction.” This would lock global inflation at a chronic … Read more

Mitsubishi built a remote, car-free city in the middle of the sea with one goal: mining coal

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About 15 kilometers off the coast of Nagasaki, in the East China Sea, there is a small island that houses blocks of concrete and semi-ruined buildings, surrounded by a retaining wall that protects them from the Pacific. The island is called Hashimaalthough it is also known as “Gunkanjima”which in Japanese means “battleship island.” and its history It is fascinating and dark in equal parts.. An island that was born from coal. All infrastructure was built for one reason: coal. The mineral was detected on the seabed beneath the island around 1810, but its systematic exploitation did not begin until 1887. In 1890, the Mitsubishi Goshi Kaisha company purchased the island and took control of the underwater mines. Extracting coal from the bottom of the sea was extraordinarily complicated, as the miners worked in tunnels that went up to a kilometer below the surface, with temperatures of 30 degrees and very high humidity. Between 1891 and 1974, the island produced some 15.7 million tons of coal. A decision that changed everything. Moving workers daily from Nagasaki was expensive and inefficient, which is why Mitsubishi made the decision to build an entire city on the island. In 1916, the company erected the first concrete building armed of large dimensions in the history of Japan, and it was precisely on this same island. These types of buildings were the only way for the buildings to withstand the typhoons that hit the region every autumn. A compressed city. During the following decades, Hashima grew upwards because he could not grow sideways. The island measures just 480 meters long and 160 meters wide. And yet, at its peak, in 1959, It housed 5,259 peoplemaking it the most densely populated place on the planet at that time. On that small piece of land there were apartments, schools, a hospital, shops, a cinema, public baths, a swimming pool, rooftop gardens, a pachinko parlor and even a cemetery. Of course, there were no cars, since there was neither space for them nor did it make much sense. a hidden face. Hashima’s story has, however, a deep shadow that for decades tried to ignore. From the 1930s until the end of World War II, Mitsubishi used forced labor at its facilities on the island. There, both Korean conscript civilians and Chinese prisoners of war were forced to work in extreme conditions. According to an academic article published on Tandfonline, around 1,000 Koreans were taken to Hashima between 1939 and 1945. Estimates of the death toll vary. On the one hand, in the book “Life in Gunkanjima 1952-1970: Report of the investigation into the Hashima homes”, by academic Uzō Nishiyama, the death toll is estimated at 137; other non-Japanese sources raise that figure to more than 1,300. The workers descended into the mines during extreme hours, and any resistance was punished brutally. They were not workers, they were slaves, and escape was practically impossible, since the nearest coast was more than 18 kilometers away by open swim. Abandonment. In the 1960s, oil began to displace coal as an energy source in Japan. Mines across the country were closing one after another. Hashima’s was no exception. Mitsubishi officially closed the mine in January 1974. and the residents left the island on April 20 of that same year. The exodus was so rapid that many left behind furniture, clothing, photographs and all kinds of personal belongings. In a matter of weeks, a city of more than five thousand people was turned into a ghost scene. For the next thirty years, Hashima remained closed to the public and was slowly devoured by typhoons and sea salt. movie set. In 2002, Swedish filmmaker Thomas Nordanstad visited the island accompanied by Doutoku Sakamoto, a man who had grown up there as a child, and filmed a short documentary. Years later, Nordanstad met Daniel Craig in Stockholm, while he was filming ‘The men who didn’t love women‘. He told him the story of Hashima. According to collect world, Nordanstad thought for a time that the actor wanted to buy the rights to the documentary, but that was not the case. Two years later it was released skyfall (2012). In the film, the abandoned island serves as the lair of the villain Raoul Silva, played by Javier Bardem. The producers traveled to Hashima to consider filming there, but concluded that the buildings were too unstable and dangerous. Therefore, they ended up building a replica at Pinewood Studios in the United Kingdom. The exterior images of the island that appear in the film are the only ones shot on location. World Heritage with controversy. In 2015, the island It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, within the category “Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution”. However, this designation came accompanied by diplomatic problems. South Korea initially objected because Japan did not recognize the use of forced labor on the island. In the end they reached an agreement: Japan agreed to include that part of the story in its materials, but they didn’t do their part. In 2021, the UNESCO Committee issued a resolution in which they expressed regret that Japan had not provided sufficient information on forced laborers. In fact, the Industrial Heritage Information Center, opened in Tokyo in 2020 to lend credibility to that narrative, was criticized for including testimonies that denied the existence of slavery conditions on the island. As of today, the debate has not yet been closed. A tourist destination with scars. Since 2009, Hashima can be visited in small groups organized from the port of Nagasaki. The tour lasts approximately one hour and is strictly delimited for safety reasons. In fact, 95% of the island remains restricted to visitors. Images | Wikimedia Commons In Xataka | The most extreme symbol of the touristification of Madrid are the TukTuk. And there is already an initiative to ban them

It is literally the largest and heaviest machine ever built by humans and it does one thing: extract coal.

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In North Rhine-Westphalia, western Germany, the largest machine that man has put on earth operates. Forget about huge ships, aircraft carrier either oil platforms: It’s an excavator. It is called Bagger 293, and its very existence is the moving memory of what industrial engineering is capable of when it is demanded without limits. What is it, exactly? The Bagger 293, also known as the MAN TAKRAF RB293, is a bucket wheel excavator (those that have a giant toothed disc at one end) designed for open pit mining. It was built by the German company TAKRAF, a subsidiary of the MAN group, between 1990 and 1995 in Leipzig. His goal from day one was only one: extract lignitethe so-called brown coal, in the Hambach mine, one of the largest mining operations in Europe. Today it remains operational, owned by RWE Power AG, Germany’s second largest energy producer. Numbers. It is 96 meters high, equivalent to a building of more than 30 floorsand 225 meters long, which is more than two football fields placed in a row. It weighs 14,200 tons. The Guinness Book of Records officially recognizes it as the largest and heaviest land vehicle in the world. Shares title with its predecessor, the Bagger 288although the 293 surpasses it in size and capacity. It also cannot be transported. And moving it about 120 kilometers requires more than three weeks of continuous work, with progress of just 5 or 6 kilometers a day. How it works istea monster. The heart of the machine is a 21.3 meter diameter rotating wheel armed with 18 buckets, large steel buckets, each capable of loading up to 15 cubic meters of material per cycle. That wheel spins non-stop, tearing off layers of earth and rock to reveal the veins of lignite, which are then transported by giant belts to the electricity generation plants. Under normal conditions, the Bagger 293 can move up to 240,000 tons of material in a single day. Furthermore, it is estimated that what it does in one day is equivalent to the manual work of about 40,000 miners. All this with only five operators on board, controlling the system from a central cockpit. electric appetite. To start such a structure, a direct external energy source of 16.56 megawatts is needed (about more than 22,500 HP if we do the conversion). This would be approximately equivalent to the electricity needed to supply a city of about 20,000 inhabitants. On the other hand, it should be noted that the Bagger 293 does not have its own conventional engine, it is permanently connected to the industrial electrical network. Its 12 steel tracks, each 3.8 meters wide, distribute the immense weight over the ground in a controlled manner so that the ground does not give way under it. Leaf where you work. The excavator works in the Hambach mine, the largest open-pit mine in Germany, with an approved area of ​​up to 8,500 hectares and a depth that reaches 500 meters below ground level. According to Bloombergthe mine produces around 40 million tonnes of lignite per year, enough to power around 8 million homes. But the mine is not without controversy. Brown coal is the most polluting fossil fuel per unit of energy produced, and the exploitation of Hambach 90% of the historic Hambach Forest has been wiped outan ecosystem more than 12,000 years old. As of 2012, environmental activists They occupied the remaining trees for years in a protest that ended up becoming a symbol of the climate debate in Germany. In 2018, tens of thousands of people demonstrated against the mine’s expansion. Greta Thunberg herself visited the place in 2019stating that he found it “devastating” to see places like the Hambach mine. In January 2020, the German government agreed to preserve the remaining forest, and in August of that same year Germany committed to its definitive exit from coal by 2038. According to Global Energy Monitormining at the Hambach mine will cease in 2029, and the plan is to transform the territory into a reclaimed landscape that will include a large artificial lake. Images | Andreas Lippold (Wikimedia Commons), Stefan Fussan (Wikimedia Commons), Steve Rowell In Xataka | The key hidden infrastructure for AI is not data centers: it is undersea cables and the Middle East leads the way

We don’t know what to do with the old coal mines. Switzerland’s idea is to turn them into a giant “battery”

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In the bowels of the Bierzo region of León, where coal was the absolute king for decades, the silence of the abandoned and flooded galleries is about to be broken. But this time there will be no pickaxes, no minecarts, no black ore. The new gold of the mining basin is water, and those in charge of extracting its potential come from the Alps. The Swiss energy company Alpiq has set its eyes on this ruined industrial legacy to transform it into a colossal natural “battery” that promises to be the energy engine of the future in Spain. A million-dollar purchase in El Bierzo. The news that has shaken the local and international energy panorama is the acquisition of the “CDR Navaleo” macroproject by the Swiss multinational Alpiq, as detailed in their press release. However, as local media describethis pumped hydroelectric energy storage project had initially been developed by Erbiergía, a company promoted and controlled by the well-known mining businessman Manuel Lamelas Viloria. Despite the sale, the Bercian promoter will maintain a stake in the company to continue collaborating and supporting its development on the ground. The project figures are colossal. Although two years ago the project has already obtained a powerful grant Of 35.5 million euros from the Ministry for the Ecological Transition (Miteco), the total investment necessary to build this megastructure is much greater. Now, as advanced in ElDiario.esthe estimated budget exceeds 300 million euros, but other sources raise the investment figure above 400 million, placing it in a range of between 420 and 450 million euros. And why Spain? To understand the magnitude of Navaleo, you have to look at the sky. Spain has very ambitious goals of penetration of renewable energies, such as solar and wind, but these sources are intermittent: it is not always sunny or the wind blows when we turn on the switch at home. Therefore, the electrical system urgently needs “storage and flexibility to guarantee the stability of the network,” explained by the Swiss company. That is where this plant comes in, which will contribute 535 megawatts (MW) of flexible capacity to the Spanish grid, according to local media. To get an idea of ​​its size, the current third vice president, Sara Aagesen, noted during a visit to the area that “all residential buildings in the province of León could be supplied with the annual production of this CDR from Navaleo”, as they have collected in The Economist. The impact transcends Spanish borders. To understand the phenomenon, the importance of infrastructure must be configured. The European Commission has included Navaleo on its list of Projects of Common Interest (PCI)highlighting its strategic value for the energy security of the entire continent, which also opens the door to better financing through the European Investment Bank. For the Swiss company, which has been operating in the Spanish market for 25 years, this is a major milestone: This is its first large-scale hydroelectric project outside of Switzerland. The engineering behind the “battery”. The technical mechanism is as fascinating as it is colossal. The facility will operate through a closed-circuit pumped hydroelectric energy storage system. In practice, it consists of taking advantage of groundwater from old mining operations, as explained in the local media. The system will pump water from the Tremor River area to a higher elevation, where it will be stored in a pond. When the country needs electricity, that water will be released through a large pipe so that it passes through a turbine and generates energy. This closed-loop design will provide the electrical grid with at least eight hours of uninterrupted energy storage, literally acting as an immense rechargeable water battery. But an abandoned mine? Used old coal mine poses obvious doubts about toxicity. Currently, abandoned mines are flooded and their waters contain minerals and contaminants. Far from being a problem, this is one of the greatest added values ​​of the project. The plant is called “CDR” precisely because it is a Reversible Treatment Plant. “Through our asset we are going to offer flexibility and storage, but we are also going to offer an environmental benefit. We are going to drain the contaminated water from the mines and purify it,” explains Amédée Murisier, director of Alpiq in statements to The Economist. In this way, an environmental liability and degraded land is transformed into a clean energy asset. Furthermore, viability is assured: the company already has a water concession granted for a period of 75 years, which guarantees long-term operational continuity. Forecasts and deadlines. The macroproject will extend through the Bercian municipalities of Torre del Bierzo, Castropodame, Congosto and Molinaseca, areas hard hit by the closure of mining. As for the deadlines, there are certain nuances. While the Viloria Group I hoped to start construction this year, the new Swiss owners apply their well-known precision and caution. Amédée Murisier warns that there is still a year and a half of work ahead to refine the geological studies and detailed engineering before making the final investment decision. What is certain, and what all actors agree on, is that the plant will enter commercial operation in the early 2030s. Where before Leonese miners went down into the bowels of the earth to extract coal with their pickaxes, in a few years thousands of liters of purified water will flow, pushed by Swiss technology. The Navaleo project is not only a work of pharaonic engineering; It is the perfect metaphor for the energy transition. A textbook circular economy that demonstrates how the old industrial ghosts of Bierzo can be reconverted, given a facelift and end up being the master key to ensuring the green and electric future of Spain. Image | freepik Xataka | Far from Grazalema and the reservoirs, Andalusia has another serious problem: completely collapsed mining ponds

Producing them emits hundreds of times less than coal and gas

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All energy sources have their dark side and solar is no exception. Without going any further, we are creating huge mountains of garbage thanks to (or because of) the solar panels cheap. Now, as in any other decision-making, it is time to weigh the pros and cons and compare them with alternatives to have some perspective and here, solar energy does not fare so badly. Damn (blessed) cheap solar panels. The generation of waste from solar panels is a reality that goes hand in hand with the deployment of solar energy. Between 2020 and 2024 the number of solar panels that have gone to waste has multiplied by four according to IRENA reports: from 220,000 to 900,000 tons and be careful because by 2050 have already estimated that the figure will be 250 million tons. The reason? Although their useful life is 25 – 30 years, they are replaced before the end due to incidents such as storm damage or manufacturing defects. In short: replacing is cheaper than repairing. In perspective. But the moment of truth comes from an estimate: the actual waste per megawatt hour of electricity generated. A current standard solar panel weighs about 20 kg and over its 25-year lifespan in moderate sunshine generates about 10 megawatt hours of electricity. The calculation is simple: it is equivalent to 2 kilograms of waste per megawatt hour and is similar to that offered by recent research published in Nature Physicswhich aimed at 1.7 kg/megawatt hour. And now let’s face it against two energy rivals: coal and gas, two fossil fuels that continue to be behind the planet’s electricity generation. coal plants generate between 80 – 100 kg per megawatt hour. And that’s not to mention the 950 kg of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour emitted in combustion. Gas is slightly better: emits 450 kg of CO₂ per megawatt hour generated and no ash generated. But the difference is abysmal compared to the waste from solar panels. In a table on energy generation it is better seen, as this one from Clean Technica: solar panels Coal NATURAL GAS Solid waste (kg/megawatt hour) 2 80 – 100 0 CO₂ emissions (kg/ Megawatt HOUR) 0 950 (per ton) 450 Other emissions No SO₂, NOₓ, particles, mercury… NOx emissions An abysmal difference. That is to say, we are talking about that considering the megawatt hour of electricity generated, a solar panel produces 2 kg of solid waste for about 90 kg of ashes that lead to an emission of 950 kg of CO₂ under the arm for coal and for gas, about 450 kg of CO₂ emitted. Electricity generation plants based on fossil fuels generate continuous and massive atmospheric pollution compared to 0 from solar panels and if we talk about solid waste, coal substantially surpasses it. Not only the quantity, but also the quality. It has already been made clear that the amount of waste is substantially lower, but it is also worth mentioning how harmful this waste is and its consequences. To the remove a solar panel We find a frame made of aluminum, silicon, glass and some plastic, which although technically can be mostly recycled, in practice they are not recycled circularly. It is true that there are panels with traces of heavy metals such as lead (solders) or cadmium in thin film panels, but also that the EU counts with management programs for this waste. And the solar panels do not emit pollutants while they are operational. Coal ashes have a list of traces fearsome: in addition to lead and cadmium there is arsenic, mercury, selenium, uranium or thorium. This cocktail is a risk to health and the environment due to inadequate management or spills. There is no need to talk too much about carbon dioxide emissions: they are behind the global warming. Coal combustion alone generated 15 gigatonnes of CO₂ between 2020 and 2024, according to analysis by the Global Carbon Project. This another study from the British Medical Journal relates air pollution from fossil fuels to some five million premature deaths last year, mainly respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases, and strokes. Solar energy waste is not the problem. Clean energies are not perfect and their operation involves a series of challenges. As we have seen, in the EU in fact recycling infrastructure already exists which currently manages to recover up to 95% of these (the WEEE directive establishes a minimum recycling of 85% of the modules) in consolidated, scalable processes and result in small, manageable and moderately harmless final waste. With the data in hand, it is substantially clear that yes, waste from solar energy exists, but viewed from the perspective of current energy needs and the sources that provide it, they are not the problem at all. In Xataka | The dark side of solar energy: we are creating a 250 million ton mountain of garbage In Xataka | Europe produces more clean electricity than fossil electricity for the first time. The hard part starts now Cover | Anders J

There is more renewable electricity in the world produced by coal

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Ten years ago, coal lit half planet. Today, it is solar panels and wind turbines that illuminate statistics. In the first half of 2025, the renewables not only covered all the increase in global electrical demand: they exceeded it. A global sorpasso. The report, prepared by Emberanalyze data from 88 countries that represent 93% of global electric demand. Its conclusion marks a before and after: solar and wind energy grew so much that they compensated all the increase in global electrical consumption and still generated surplus. However, there is an even more important point that is that coal generation fell worldwide. Carbon participation fell to 33.1% of global electric mix, while renewables rose to 34.3%. For the first time, the coal was behind. The descent was especially clear in China and Indiawhere coal has always dominated and, therefore, that descent is noted. On the other hand, both in the European Union and in the United States a small rebound was observed, caused by hydroelectric drought and the Gas increase. Renewable energies produced more electricity than coal for the first time recorded in the first half of 2025 | Ember Radiography of the change. The transition is not a statistical anecdote, but a structural phenomenon. World demand increased 369 twh (+2.6 %), moderate growth that was widely covered by solar and wind expansion. On the one hand, the sun remains the most dynamic source on the planet. The solar generation grew 31%, reaching a global quota of 8.8%. However, this is because China It was the great enginecontributing 55% of world solar growth, followed by the United States, the European and Indian Union. On the other hand, the wind keeps the pace. The wind generation increased by 7.7%, to represent 9.2% of the global mix. Although Europe and the United States suffered adverse weather conditions, China increased, registering a 16% increase in their wind production. The money also changed sideways. The other great indicator that this change is structural is in the markets. According to the International Energy Agencythe global investment in energy will reach 3.3 billion dollars, a fairly striking figure. Only ten years ago, renewables were seen as An idealistic bet: faces, intermittent and subsidy dependent. Today they are the new center of financial gravity of the energy system. The proportion of clean investment against fossil went from 2 to 1 in 2015 to 10 to 1 in 2024, a change that reflects a collective market decision. However, not everyone is invited to the party. Emerging markets and developing economies barely receive 15% of world investment In clean energy, despite the fact that its electric demand is the one that grows the most. In addition, they are still trapped between high financial costs, fragile networks and regulatory uncertainty. As Ember warnswithout international financing and technological cooperation, the global rhythm towards zero net emissions could be stopped before achieving the objective. China drives the global transition. Behind the world sorpasso there is an undisputed protagonist: China. Not only leads the production of clean energy, but also the industry that makes it possible: panels, turbines, batteries and smart networks. Its industrial policy has made the country what some analysts describe as an “electrostate”capable of dominating the energy value chains of the 21st century as it dominated the manufacturing. In just six months, China installed 380 GW of new solar capacity – more than all the total capacity of the United States – promoted by a wave of projects prior to new price standards. Thanks to this, its mixture Electric is already renewable 24%, and the emissions of the electrical sector fell 1.7% in half a year. Global challenges. According to Emberthe electricity grid is already the main obstacle to renewable expansion. Solar and wind production increases faster than lines and storage grow. In countries such as Spain or Germany, specific cuts have been registered in solar parks by network saturation. In Japan, operators reduce solar generation on weekends to avoid overloads. This forced disconnection –The call Curtailment– shows a paradox: we have more sun than cables. To the saturation of the networks is added the inequality of access to capital. While China and other economies install renewable gigawatts every month, Africa and Latin America are still waiting for sufficient investments. Hence the urgency of new global mechanisms to channel green capital towards emerging economies and ensure that the transition is truly global. An irreversible turning point. Just a decade ago, coal generated twice as much electricity than renewables. Today, clean energy has surpassed the most polluting source and dominates the growth of the electrical system. China leadsIndia accelerateEurope It adapts and the United States It stops. Prices fall, investments grow and emissions begin to stabilize. The energy transition is no longer a matter of political will: it is an economic law. The turning point is not in the future: it is happening right now. Image | Freepik and Pexels Xataka | In his career for the total domain of the solar panels, a rival has come out: the Spanish Perovskita

When a mine turned off all its coal fueled engines, it continued to operate 84 hours thanks to something: the renewables

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For 84 hours in a row, a remote gold mine in Australia He completely turned off Its gas and diesel engines and worked only with wind, sun and batteries. It is not a laboratory experiment, but a real underground operation. History comes in a golden context – it never just said. “Gold Historical records brand Above 3,600 dollars an ounce, promoted by the search for refuge in the face of geopolitical and monetary uncertainty. This climbing and the renewed appetite for the bullion become a backdrop of the “clean gold” story. Turning off the past. The Bellevue underground mine, in Western Australia, affirms than the installation Off-Grid 84 consecutive hours worked in August with the “off engine” – that is, without thermal generation -, demonstrating that 100% renewable is possible for remote industries. A great infrastructure. The milestone has been possible Thanks to the remarkable installation which contains: 24 MW of wind energy distributed in four wind turbines, 27 MW of in situ photovoltaic plot and a 15 MW/30 MWh storage system. The support is made up of 9 MW of diesel and 15 MW of gas, which act as support when the renewable resource or battery does not cover the demand. Zenith Energy, the company that operates the plant under a long -term energy purchase agreement, details that the hybrid micorred It reaches about 90 MW installed, with synchronous capacitors and a micorred controller designed so that the mine can completely disconnect from fossil fuels at times of greater renewable generation. A meteoric progression. The ascending curve is clear: in July 2024, renewable participation was only 14%. In June of this year he had already climbed to 64%, in July to 78%and in August he reached 88%, According to Reneweconomy. Since the start -up of wind turbines between May and June 2025, the mine It has operated regularly With more than 90% renewable energies for full days of 24 hours, with several days at 100%. It is not an isolated episode. In June 2025, shortly after the entry into operation of wind turbines, the mine managed to operate 58 hours in a row, renewable 100%, According to Stockhead. In this way, both milestones reinforce the idea that using renewable is technically viable even in energy intensive industries and isolated from the network. A new market: Green Oro. Bellevue is trying to sell part of its production with a premium through the ABC Refinery refinery and the Single Mine Origin program, aimed at jewelry buyers and central banks with ESG sensitivity. “Bellevue states that he now produces and sells ‘green gold’ after reaching the goal of zero net emissions,” They detail in stockhead. In addition, it includes smart ventilation systems on demand (VOD) that reduce electricity consumption up to 30 %, and tests with underground electrical machinery. The nuances. The “net zero” label cannot be taken lightly. The status was reached in scope 1 and 2, that is, direct emissions and electrical consumption, but does not include scope 3 (refined, transport and use of gold). In addition, a part of neutrality is achieved by buying carbon credits, As the company admitted. In addition, from International Energy Forum (IEF) warn that mining It still has great challenges in water, waste and safety, beyond clean energy. Making it sustainable implies transforming the entire chain, not just electricity. The double brightness of gold. In times of uncertainty, gold is again a financial refuge. But Bellevue Gold wants it to also be an energy transition symbol. The gold we buy in the form of a jewel or ingot could come from a mine that, for whole days, feeds only on wind and sun. The question is whether this case will be the spark that transforms all mining or if it will remain a brilliant exception in the middle of the Australian desert. Image | Zenithenergy and Unspash Xataka |

In Europe, gas and disused coal plants have unexpected suitors: technology companies

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The climatic commitments that It has acquired Europe They have condemned in the short or medium term the future of gas and coal power plants disseminated by the old continent. Many of them no longer serve, but, surprisingly, the rise of the artificial intelligence (AI) has the ability to save them. This does not mean at all that they will burn gas and coal again; The option on the table is to convert them in data centers. Microsoft and Amazon are, According to Reuterstwo of the large technology companies that are interested in transforming these old power plants into modern data centers equipped to the last one. In fact, its managers are already negotiating with the French energy company Engie, the German RWE and the Italian in the possibility of using their facilities for this purpose. For energy companies this option is very attractive because it allows them to kill two birds. On the one hand, the transformation of their old electric power plants into data centers guarantees them in income with which they did not count so far. And, in addition, the energy companies that I have mentioned in the previous paragraph and some others are negotiating with the technology companies the possibility of give them the supply of electricity that require your data centers. A priori seems like a fissure plan. An agreement in which everyone wins “You have all the necessary pieces, such as water infrastructure and heat recovery.” This Bobby Hollis statementVice President of Energy in Microsoft, repairs something very important: the old gas and coal centrals that are no longer operational have the water supply and the heat management infrastructure that data centers need. Presumably it will not be necessary to undertake a large adaptation to transform these facilities into operational data centers. Agility when putting up these data centers and moderation of costs is what makes them so attractive to large technology On the other hand, Lindsay Mcquade, director of Energy for the EMEA area (Europe, Middle East and Africa) at Amazon, Trust in that the permits that technology companies need to operate these converted data centers are available long before the new facilities. After all, most of Infrastructure are already installed In these buildings from the beginning. In fact, agility when pointing out these data centers and moderation of start -up costs is what makes them so attractive to large technological ones. In Europe and the United Kingdom since 2005 they have closed no less than 190 coal and lignite centralsand another 153 will follow this same path before the year 2038. It is evident that the possibility of reusing all these buildings transforming them into data centers for AI is very attractive. However, there is a challenge that is not yet resolved and that can condition this plan. It is not clear that the electrical infrastructure of some countries is capable of delivering The energy required by these facilities without previously undertaking a large -scale development. In this scenario renewable energies and nuclear will have the last word. Image | Marcin Jozwiak More information | Reuters In Xataka | We have a serious problem with air conditioning: it consumes much more electricity than data centers

an ‘electrostate’ that continues to feed on coal

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To understand China, it is essential to enter their philosophical roots. A constant that has marked its history is the art of thinking in the long term, of planning with decades in advance. An ideology that is deeply linked to confucionism, which prioritizes collective duty, social stability and sacrifice present for a stronger future. However, it should be noted that Confucio did not explicitly speak of political or economic strategy in the current terms, but its emphasis on meticulous planning can be glimpsed in the country’s current energy policy. An “electrostate.” He 10% of Chinese GDP It is in clean energy, since technologies, such as electric vehicles, batteries, wind turbines and solar panels are growing at a dizzying pace. According to the Financial Timesthe objective is not simply to modernize its energy infrastructure; It is to create an “electrostate.” In other words, that its economy works almost exclusively with electricity generated from low carbon sources. All according to the plan. The transition to an electricity -based energy model is not accidental. It is the result of a combination of state planning, mass investments and technological innovation. It all started more than 10 years two years after Xi Jinping assumed power, when he ordered the Chinese energy system to “revolutionize”. Thus they began with the strategic investments that are expected that within five years another 800,000 million dollars will be added to consolidate the electrical infrastructure, intended for ultraalta tension lines that the country already has 40 transporting solar and wind energy. The expansion of renewables. Planning also had The expansion in renewableswhere the country leads the transition solar and wind With megaprojects. Next to it and at the same vertiginous rhythm, China has taken into account That the greater the renewable capacity, the greater the need for storage systems. The batteries have become a key piece to stabilize the electricity grid and manage the intermission of solar and wind energy, but there is still a long way to achieve the 500GW of storage necessary to completely support its renewable network. Also, like They have detailed In Financial Times, the two largest Chinese companies in the country, Catl and Byd, have allocated 5% of their income to research and development, which has allowed to drastically reduce storage costs. An elephant in a room. Despite all this change, China continues to aggressively invest in fossil fuels. In fact, Keep building new coal plants and represent 80% of construction plants worldwide. This paradox has raised international criticism, especially for the risk of increasing global emissions while the country is presented as a leader in clean energy. From The commercial war with the United Statesthe vulnerabilities of global supply chains have been exposed, which has led To China to reveal their plans on the control of their own coal and oil reserves as of key energy infrastructure. However, he has not stopped his projects outside because He wants to reinforce Its geopolitical influence while minimizing internal risks. The dual strategy. China continues to invest in renewable energy for long -term electrification, while maintaining control of fossil fuels to avoid short -term interruptions. This duality has generated international criticisms that accuse Beijin of flooding the market with subsidized clean technologies and breaking their climatic commitments, as He has collected The Financial Times. A planned future. While the rest of the world debate how to reduce emissions and ensure energy supply, China has chosen not to choose a single path. Instead, he has opted for both. And if we look at its philosophical roots, Taoism summarizes it well: opposites not only coexist, but also need. Renewable and fossils. Yin and Yang. On the energy board, China is playing with both cards at the same time. Image | Kenueone and Palacio do Planalto, CC BY-SA 4.0 Xataka | China is immersed in a nuclear revolution and needs industrial amounts of Uranium. His solution: “fish” in the sea

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