<![CDATA[Coal produces about 33% of global electricitySolar and wind produce 8–9% eachElectricity meets about 20% of total energy demandhttps://www.visualcapitalist.com/coal-still-powers-more-electricity/]]>Coal produces about 33% of global electricity
Solar and wind produce 8–9% each
Electricity meets about 20% of total energy demand
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/coal-still-powers-more-electricity/

"The year 2025 recorded the largest net addition to global coal capacity in over a decade, driven largely by China amid the country’s heightened energy security concerns."
https://www.bu.edu/gdp/2026/04/28/resurgence-to-retirement-global-insights-on-transitioning-away-from-coal/

China accounts for 55.8% of global coal consumption
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-worlds-biggest-coal-consumers/

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/topic/55e8db91-eeab-4d7e-a240-d438ba1764fe/coal-produces-about-33-of-global-electricitysolar-and-wind-produce-8-9-eachelectricity-meets-about-20-of-total-energy-demandhttps-www.visualcapitalist.com-coal-still-powers-more-electricityRSS for NodeFri, 15 May 2026 01:51:24 GMTFri, 08 May 2026 15:29:15 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Coal produces about 33% of global electricitySolar and wind produce 8–9% eachElectricity meets about 20% of total energy demandhttps://www.visualcapitalist.com/coal-still-powers-more-electricity/ on Sat, 09 May 2026 10:00:58 GMT]]>@dnkboston What happens is degrees of intermittency. Which accelerates the decline of the whole system.

The paradox is that as oil price goes up that can prop up the viability of extraction in given fields but it doesn’t change that the overall supply of a non-renewable resource chaotically declines

@gerrymcgovern @knud

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/urlyman/statuses/116544035781725075https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/urlyman/statuses/116544035781725075Sat, 09 May 2026 10:00:58 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Coal produces about 33% of global electricitySolar and wind produce 8–9% eachElectricity meets about 20% of total energy demandhttps://www.visualcapitalist.com/coal-still-powers-more-electricity/ on Sat, 09 May 2026 09:57:52 GMT]]>@dnkboston @gerrymcgovern @knud no way I'd pretend there's not a lot to moving parts, or a lot to do, but doomer degrowth has serious downsides, one of which is you're never going to convince people to let their children suffer and die without trying to help them. We are already turning the population curve, we are already bathed in energy. Microbes are already evolving to eat plastic. The earth will be fine, we're just fucking ourselves up.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.circl.lu/users/quinn/statuses/116544023582399480https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.circl.lu/users/quinn/statuses/116544023582399480Sat, 09 May 2026 09:57:52 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Coal produces about 33% of global electricitySolar and wind produce 8–9% eachElectricity meets about 20% of total energy demandhttps://www.visualcapitalist.com/coal-still-powers-more-electricity/ on Sat, 09 May 2026 09:57:33 GMT]]>@dnkboston perhaps accelerated by (too hard to see) but for sure without it anyway.

The energy return on investment (EROI) of a barrel of oil around 1940 was 1:100. i.e. You get 100 barrels out for every 1 you invest in extraction. Today, the global average is about 1:15. Joseph Tainter thinks that it becomes unsustainable at about 1:10 because of the upfront costs of exploration and field development.

That said, the EROI variance is large. So…

@gerrymcgovern @knud

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/urlyman/statuses/116544022372190759https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/urlyman/statuses/116544022372190759Sat, 09 May 2026 09:57:33 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Coal produces about 33% of global electricitySolar and wind produce 8–9% eachElectricity meets about 20% of total energy demandhttps://www.visualcapitalist.com/coal-still-powers-more-electricity/ on Sat, 09 May 2026 09:51:08 GMT]]>@dnkboston
E-waste "recycling" is such a monstrous, cynical con. Basically, the Global North dumping it in the Global South where it poisons life, air, water, soil.

Every year, electronics become less recyclable, the economy becomes more linear and toxic to life. And yet the fantasy of e-waste recycling is marketed just like it has been by the plastics industry.

@quinn @knud

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.green/users/gerrymcgovern/statuses/116543997123098096https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.green/users/gerrymcgovern/statuses/116543997123098096Sat, 09 May 2026 09:51:08 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Coal produces about 33% of global electricitySolar and wind produce 8–9% eachElectricity meets about 20% of total energy demandhttps://www.visualcapitalist.com/coal-still-powers-more-electricity/ on Sat, 09 May 2026 09:48:45 GMT]]>@gerrymcgovern Because of Hormuz? Or even without that? @urlyman @knud

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://apobangpo.space/users/dnkboston/statuses/116543987716949662https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://apobangpo.space/users/dnkboston/statuses/116543987716949662Sat, 09 May 2026 09:48:45 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Coal produces about 33% of global electricitySolar and wind produce 8–9% eachElectricity meets about 20% of total energy demandhttps://www.visualcapitalist.com/coal-still-powers-more-electricity/ on Sat, 09 May 2026 09:47:40 GMT]]>@dnkboston
I've been listening to some talks on the subject and talking to some experts, and there are definite signs that we have peaked and that oil and gas will become more and more expensive, with all the implications that has for food, industry, etc.

@urlyman @knud

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.green/users/gerrymcgovern/statuses/116543983502127584https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.green/users/gerrymcgovern/statuses/116543983502127584Sat, 09 May 2026 09:47:40 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Coal produces about 33% of global electricitySolar and wind produce 8–9% eachElectricity meets about 20% of total energy demandhttps://www.visualcapitalist.com/coal-still-powers-more-electricity/ on Sat, 09 May 2026 09:43:42 GMT]]>@urlyman I keep thinking about something Charles Mann wrote a decade ago. There's never been Peak Oil, thanks to the determination of governments and oil companies to keep it flowing, which fostered "innovative" tech to do so.

I don't think oil will become difficult enough to extract in my lifetime.

@knud @gerrymcgovern

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://apobangpo.space/users/dnkboston/statuses/116543967882223677https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://apobangpo.space/users/dnkboston/statuses/116543967882223677Sat, 09 May 2026 09:43:42 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Coal produces about 33% of global electricitySolar and wind produce 8–9% eachElectricity meets about 20% of total energy demandhttps://www.visualcapitalist.com/coal-still-powers-more-electricity/ on Sat, 09 May 2026 09:35:57 GMT]]>@quinn Recover and recycle what?

I look at the Mississippi, and I want to cry. I hope it can be revived, but we'd have to stop actively polluting it so it could. Same for hundreds of other waterways.

The financial incentives to recycle electronics as well as components like solar panels are not there, so when it gets done, it's by poorer people in poorer countries. Reading about those "processes" makes me never want to buy anything again.

@gerrymcgovern @knud

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://apobangpo.space/users/dnkboston/statuses/116543937407736227https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://apobangpo.space/users/dnkboston/statuses/116543937407736227Sat, 09 May 2026 09:35:57 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Coal produces about 33% of global electricitySolar and wind produce 8–9% eachElectricity meets about 20% of total energy demandhttps://www.visualcapitalist.com/coal-still-powers-more-electricity/ on Sat, 09 May 2026 09:32:23 GMT]]>@dnkboston no, that’s not where I’m coming from. Unavailability, intermittency.

When oil becomes unprofitable it becomes less extracted. As it becomes less profitable the cost of capital heads sharply up. As do all of oil’s supply chain dependents, including metals, many of which are independently heading along similar trajectories https://mastodon.social/@urlyman/111374066310651684

@knud @gerrymcgovern

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/urlyman/statuses/116543923367932519https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/urlyman/statuses/116543923367932519Sat, 09 May 2026 09:32:23 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Coal produces about 33% of global electricitySolar and wind produce 8–9% eachElectricity meets about 20% of total energy demandhttps://www.visualcapitalist.com/coal-still-powers-more-electricity/ on Sat, 09 May 2026 09:30:59 GMT]]>@dnkboston @gerrymcgovern @knud the thing is we can recover and recycle these things, we even have the processes down, we just haven't.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.circl.lu/users/quinn/statuses/116543917895172643https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.circl.lu/users/quinn/statuses/116543917895172643Sat, 09 May 2026 09:30:59 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Coal produces about 33% of global electricitySolar and wind produce 8–9% eachElectricity meets about 20% of total energy demandhttps://www.visualcapitalist.com/coal-still-powers-more-electricity/ on Sat, 09 May 2026 09:24:22 GMT]]>@gerrymcgovern I admit, when I read the critique of batteries in Zehner's book a decade ago, something in me broke. We've been told they are the solution for so long. @knud

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://apobangpo.space/users/dnkboston/statuses/116543891870411312https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://apobangpo.space/users/dnkboston/statuses/116543891870411312Sat, 09 May 2026 09:24:22 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Coal produces about 33% of global electricitySolar and wind produce 8–9% eachElectricity meets about 20% of total energy demandhttps://www.visualcapitalist.com/coal-still-powers-more-electricity/ on Sat, 09 May 2026 09:21:47 GMT]]>@urlyman Policy=enforcement? @knud @gerrymcgovern

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://apobangpo.space/users/dnkboston/statuses/116543881690653894https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://apobangpo.space/users/dnkboston/statuses/116543881690653894Sat, 09 May 2026 09:21:47 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Coal produces about 33% of global electricitySolar and wind produce 8–9% eachElectricity meets about 20% of total energy demandhttps://www.visualcapitalist.com/coal-still-powers-more-electricity/ on Sat, 09 May 2026 09:17:40 GMT]]>@quinn The future is African, and it's about damn time.

We do get a lot of sun, but photovoltaic tech currently depends on elements that require devastating extraction. People seem unimpressed when I point out damage to ecosystems or human health, but hopefully they will be paused by how often these wastes can be radioactive.

Many people in native nations lived long lives without electricity. The big things seemed to be 1) clean surroundings and 2) adequate food.

@gerrymcgovern @knud

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://apobangpo.space/users/dnkboston/statuses/116543865490455721https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://apobangpo.space/users/dnkboston/statuses/116543865490455721Sat, 09 May 2026 09:17:40 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Coal produces about 33% of global electricitySolar and wind produce 8–9% eachElectricity meets about 20% of total energy demandhttps://www.visualcapitalist.com/coal-still-powers-more-electricity/ on Sat, 09 May 2026 09:17:34 GMT]]>@dnkboston
And it's not a little itonic that batteries are being sold as clean and green. You would struggle to think of anything more toxic, with long lasting damage, than batteries. But then, the tech optimists were AI long before AI; all full of hallucinations.
@knud

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.green/users/gerrymcgovern/statuses/116543865145674831https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.green/users/gerrymcgovern/statuses/116543865145674831Sat, 09 May 2026 09:17:34 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Coal produces about 33% of global electricitySolar and wind produce 8–9% eachElectricity meets about 20% of total energy demandhttps://www.visualcapitalist.com/coal-still-powers-more-electricity/ on Sat, 09 May 2026 09:09:26 GMT]]>@gerrymcgovern I rolled my eyes when I saw that a few weeks ago. But I remember also reading that they were rejected as a nuclear reactor solution because sodium is so unstable (*Nuclear Is Not The Solution*, Ramana). That's really not a concern for batteries? @knud

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://apobangpo.space/users/dnkboston/statuses/116543833114645045https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://apobangpo.space/users/dnkboston/statuses/116543833114645045Sat, 09 May 2026 09:09:26 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Coal produces about 33% of global electricitySolar and wind produce 8–9% eachElectricity meets about 20% of total energy demandhttps://www.visualcapitalist.com/coal-still-powers-more-electricity/ on Sat, 09 May 2026 09:08:18 GMT]]>@dnkboston hence my use of the word “enforced”. The lived experience of relative absence will drive change. And perhaps, out of a deficit of technological ubiquity will come a reconnection with forms of abundance that have always been there and still are, just

@knud @gerrymcgovern

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/urlyman/statuses/116543828672270571https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/urlyman/statuses/116543828672270571Sat, 09 May 2026 09:08:18 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Coal produces about 33% of global electricitySolar and wind produce 8–9% eachElectricity meets about 20% of total energy demandhttps://www.visualcapitalist.com/coal-still-powers-more-electricity/ on Sat, 09 May 2026 09:05:33 GMT]]>@dnkboston @gerrymcgovern @knud I'm not threatened by capitalism. I'm threatened by racism, something much bigger and older. There's a lot of racism in Communist countries that isn't produced by capitalism at all. The most capitalist parts of the USA are the most sensible environmentally. Suicidal stupidity on the environment is maximal in the least capitalist parts of the country, starting with the Confederate South and allied areas.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/jonesmurphy/statuses/116543817875848732https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/jonesmurphy/statuses/116543817875848732Sat, 09 May 2026 09:05:33 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Coal produces about 33% of global electricitySolar and wind produce 8–9% eachElectricity meets about 20% of total energy demandhttps://www.visualcapitalist.com/coal-still-powers-more-electricity/ on Sat, 09 May 2026 09:03:51 GMT]]>@urlyman Maybe. But from what I've seen, normal price signals aren't enough. @knud @gerrymcgovern

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://apobangpo.space/users/dnkboston/statuses/116543811180810920https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://apobangpo.space/users/dnkboston/statuses/116543811180810920Sat, 09 May 2026 09:03:51 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Coal produces about 33% of global electricitySolar and wind produce 8–9% eachElectricity meets about 20% of total energy demandhttps://www.visualcapitalist.com/coal-still-powers-more-electricity/ on Sat, 09 May 2026 09:01:28 GMT]]>@jonesmurphy That's not true. @gerrymcgovern is not racist. In fact, his thesis concerns how racist, white, toxic masculinity leads to the extractive capitalism that's killing all of us. @knud

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://apobangpo.space/users/dnkboston/statuses/116543801786828079https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://apobangpo.space/users/dnkboston/statuses/116543801786828079Sat, 09 May 2026 09:01:28 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Coal produces about 33% of global electricitySolar and wind produce 8–9% eachElectricity meets about 20% of total energy demandhttps://www.visualcapitalist.com/coal-still-powers-more-electricity/ on Sat, 09 May 2026 08:59:28 GMT]]>@dnkboston LBJ faced fierce opposition from Goldwater Republicans and right wing Democrats for insufficient warfare in Vietnam. Nixon gave them enormous warfare all over the world as well as nuclear proliferation to apartheid South Africa and Israel. Nixon called the War on Poverty "a new tyranny ". White supremacists agreed.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/jonesmurphy/statuses/116543793922817311https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/jonesmurphy/statuses/116543793922817311Sat, 09 May 2026 08:59:28 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Coal produces about 33% of global electricitySolar and wind produce 8–9% eachElectricity meets about 20% of total energy demandhttps://www.visualcapitalist.com/coal-still-powers-more-electricity/ on Sat, 09 May 2026 08:58:00 GMT]]>@knud Is this still with the accounting that includes Germany using "biomass"? @nyc @gerrymcgovern

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://apobangpo.space/users/dnkboston/statuses/116543788191561330https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://apobangpo.space/users/dnkboston/statuses/116543788191561330Sat, 09 May 2026 08:58:00 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Coal produces about 33% of global electricitySolar and wind produce 8–9% eachElectricity meets about 20% of total energy demandhttps://www.visualcapitalist.com/coal-still-powers-more-electricity/ on Sat, 09 May 2026 08:56:51 GMT]]>@knud The fact that you don't understand makes this conversation difficult. You can read @gerrymcgovern 's book. Or Fressoz or Zehner. Or the archives at Cultural Survival.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://apobangpo.space/users/dnkboston/statuses/116543783646066139https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://apobangpo.space/users/dnkboston/statuses/116543783646066139Sat, 09 May 2026 08:56:51 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Coal produces about 33% of global electricitySolar and wind produce 8–9% eachElectricity meets about 20% of total energy demandhttps://www.visualcapitalist.com/coal-still-powers-more-electricity/ on Sat, 09 May 2026 08:53:46 GMT]]>@jonesmurphy "Bread and circus" perfected--now you can do it far away.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://apobangpo.space/users/dnkboston/statuses/116543771519980728https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://apobangpo.space/users/dnkboston/statuses/116543771519980728Sat, 09 May 2026 08:53:46 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Coal produces about 33% of global electricitySolar and wind produce 8–9% eachElectricity meets about 20% of total energy demandhttps://www.visualcapitalist.com/coal-still-powers-more-electricity/ on Sat, 09 May 2026 08:52:06 GMT]]>@nyc I loved that book. "He came with receipts" doesn't do him justice--but he did. @knud @gerrymcgovern

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://apobangpo.space/users/dnkboston/statuses/116543764997682343https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://apobangpo.space/users/dnkboston/statuses/116543764997682343Sat, 09 May 2026 08:52:06 GMT