Trump signs order to boost coal: "This is just noise"

CGTN Europe

CGTN  Europe interviewed Kingsmill Bond, Energy Strategist for Ember

Transcript

00:00Let's talk now to Kingsmill Bond, an energy strategist for Ember.

00:04Kingsmill, welcome back to the programme.

00:06First of all, your reaction to President Trump's revival of coal.

00:11Well, we heard this before, eight years ago.

00:14He also revived coal, and it's been falling for 15 years

00:19because it's more expensive than the alternative.

00:22So this is just noise.

00:26Other countries, Mr Trump's supporters will say,

00:28are also burning coal.

00:31He's just falling into line with others, isn't he?

00:35Well, I think he's taking his own path, his own very special path, I guess,

00:41which is, of course, his prerogative.

00:45But, yeah, other people burn coal.

00:47The real story in the energy system, in the electricity system,

00:5295% of new capacity coming on stream is from solar and wind and renewable technology.

01:01That's the real story.

01:03This is just noise.

01:05Noise or not, Mr Trump cites growing electricity demand from those things we all need,

01:10data centres, artificial intelligence and electric vehicles,

01:14which we're all being encouraged to buy.

01:15That's the justification, he will say, for this move to coal.

01:20Is coal the best way to meet the world's energy demand,

01:24or at least one of the ways to meet it?

01:26So, the best way to meet, quickly to meet rising demand for electricity

01:33is to deploy technologies which are cheap and local and simple,

01:38which is essentially solar and, to a degree, wind,

01:41because they can be put up, especially solar, can be put up extremely quickly.

01:44So, if you're really interested in getting electricity fast, you want solar.

01:49And to put some context on this, solar deployment last year of 600 gigawatts

01:55is ten times as much as the growth in electricity demand

02:00from all aspects of AI or data centres.

02:04So, in a single month, additional solar would supply, globally,

02:08would supply enough new electricity for all of the growth in AI.

02:13Is there any place for coal in what might be called a balanced energy mix,

02:19or is it simply time to move on?

02:24So, coal is the foundation of the system,

02:28but the system is nevertheless changing.

02:30It's a little bit like asking this question in 1920,

02:34you know, is there any future for horses?

02:36Of course there's a future.

02:38It's just one of decline,

02:39and as new and superior technologies come into the mix.

02:44And the point is that, you know, in spite of the rhetoric,

02:47that, of course, is what has been happening in the U.S.,

02:49don't forget, for 15 years now,

02:52coal has been in decline.

02:55And trying to resuscitate an expensive dying technology

03:01is not sufficient.

03:04It's not going to bring it back from the dead.

03:07Kingswell, good to see you.

03:08Thanks so much for coming back on the programme.

03:09Kingswell Bomb, the energy strategist at Ember.

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