Tag - coal

 
 

COAL

Jera's thermal power station in Hekinan, Aichi Prefecture, recently started co-firing coal with 20% of ammonia, a technology supported by the government's "green transformation," or GX, policy.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 7, 2024
Is Japan’s green transformation investing in the past or future?
Japan issued its first green transformation bonds, but the policy breathes new life into fossil fuel-based projects rather than pulling the plug on them.
An ammonia tank at Jera's Hekinan thermal power station in Aichi Prefecture on March 13
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Apr 1, 2024
Jera starts ammonia co-firing trial at coal power station
The power company said it is the world's first trial using a large amount of the gas at a major commercial plant.
Containers transporting coal at a dock in Cam Pha, Vietnam. Enthusiasm for Vietnam’s renewables boom is dampened by factors such as its underdeveloped electricity grid and patchy regulatory framework, while the country’s major source of electricity remains coal.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET
Mar 25, 2024
With Japan’s help, is Vietnam headed for a flawed energy transition?
The climate-vulnerable nation is looking to renewables, but also questionable solutions promoted by Tokyo, for its energy needs.
Despite vast coal reserves, China has always been geopolitically vulnerable on the energy front.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 24, 2024
China navigates myriad of energy-driven challenges
Rising fuel prices are a thorn in the China's side amid deflation concerns.
A coal-fired power plant in Shanghai in October 2021. For years, analysts expected coal production to plateau after it hit a then-record in 2013. Then came 2021, when power shortages in China set Beijing on a path to order more mining to ensure energy security.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Mar 24, 2024
Coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel, is preparing for a long goodbye
Output hit a record last year, and producers expect a future where coal will be required to balance renewable energy for decades.
A housing development next to the Sasol’s petrochemicals plant in Sasolburg, South Africa.
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 2, 2024
What it's like to live in the most polluted place on Earth
Coal and steel plants offer steady work for residents in South Africa's Vaal Triangle, yet they’re also pumping out harmful emissions.
Fatih Birol, executive director of the IEA
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Feb 21, 2024
How to reinvent yourself at 50: An IEA guide
It would be an understatement to say that the energy industry has gone through a lot of change.
Tobu Railway started testing biofuel for its coal-fired and diesel-powered locomotives in the tourist area of Nikko in Tochigi Prefecture, with the aim of cutting carbon dioxide emissions.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2024
Biofuel tested for coal-fired steam locomotives in eastern Japan
The company said it expects to reduce about 150 tons of emissions per year, the same amount emitted by around 50 households.
Black smoke rises from Jera's Taketoyo Thermal Power Station in Taketoyo, Aichi Prefecture, on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2024
Jera to check two thermal power plants in Japan after fire
The firm will conduct inspections at the Hekinan facility in Aichi Prefecture and the Hitachi Naka plant in Ibaraki Prefecture.
A JFE Steel plant in the city of Chiba. JFE Steel plans to buy more coking coal on the spot market to increase the liquidity of the market and to reflect true demand and supply.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 29, 2023
Japan's JFE takes new tack to tame volatile coking coal prices
Japan's No.2 steelmaker plans to buy more coking coal from the spot market to boost activity and make prices more transparent.
A turbine generator at JERA's No. 2 coal-fired power unit at its Yokosuka plant in Kanagawa Prefecture.
BUSINESS
Dec 23, 2023
JERA starts operating Yokosuka coal-fired plant ahead of schedule
The move comes despite mounting criticism over its continued use of power plants that are fired by the dirtiest fossil fuel.
A climate activist arranges artwork expressing opposition to fossil fuels at Dubai's Expo City during the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP28 in Dubai on Dec. 12.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 19, 2023
COP28 deal on fossil fuels puts new focus on 'just transition'
From coal miners to offshore oil rig engineers, 32 million people who work in the fossil fuel industry face losing their livelihoods.
Diggers move piles of coal after it was unloaded from a ship at Lianyungang Port in China's Jiangsu province.
ENVIRONMENT
Dec 16, 2023
Coal use hits record in 2023, Earth's hottest year
The IEA reported that nations would burn even more coal this year than in 2022, but that demand would tail off starting in 2024.
A man walks past a pollution pod designed to mimic the air quality in New Delhi, during the COP28 summit in Dubai, on Dec 4.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 15, 2023
How the world agreed to move away from fossil fuels at COP28
This year's climate conference marked the first time in history countries expressed a unified desire to end the oil age.
A deal was reached at the eleventh hour of COP28 in Dubai on Wednesday, with countries committing to transition away from fossil fuels to meet climate goals.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 14, 2023
It’s time to kick our addiction to fossil fuels
The COP28 deal is historic in that it calls for a transition away from fossil fuels for the first time, but it's too weak to tackle the climate emergency.
COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber, of the United Arab Emirates, addresses the plenary, after a draft of a negotiation deal was released, at the COP28 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai on Wednesday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 13, 2023
Nations strike deal at COP28 to transition away from fossil fuels
More than 100 countries had lobbied hard for strong language in the deal to "phase out" oil, gas and coal use, but came up against powerful opposition.
A pollution pod designed to mimic the air quality in New Delhi sits during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai on Tuesday
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 13, 2023
Without fairness, fossil fuel phase-out flounders at COP28
Developing countries emphasized that they could not embark on the journey toward renewables in the absence of clear guarantees of international support.
The Climate Action Network holds an event at the venue of the U.N. climate change conferences in Dubai on Sunday to give its "fossil" award to countries including Japan.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Dec 4, 2023
Japan gets 'fossil' award again as climate action slammed
This is the fourth time the country has been pointed out by the group, receiving the dubious honor in 2019, 2021 and 2022.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a session at the United Nations climate summit in Dubai on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Dec 3, 2023
For embattled Kishida, Dubai trip fails to pay dividends
The PM's visit to Dubai for a U.N. climate summit will do little to offset woes at home, including an LDP funding scandal and sagging approval ratings.
A truck unloads tons of coal inside a warehouse in Tondo, Metro Manila, in 2016. Independent show ample potential for renewables in Japan and Southeast Asia.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Dec 3, 2023
How Japan's renewable underestimates are impacting Asia's energy transition
Contrary to Japan's stance, independent projections paint a picture in which renewables can power the fast developing region.

Longform

Historically, kabuki was considered the entertainment of the merchant and peasant classes, a far cry from how it is regarded today.
For Japan's oldest kabuki theater, the show must go on