Thread

US Revokes Limits on Power Plants' Climate Pollution

261 points · 266 comments · DeepLogin

reactordev · 1789929782 · focus · HN ↗
Full steam ahead towards greenhouse gases, climate change, and +5degree temperatures. Why not?
1. jmclnx · 1789931725 · focus · HN ↗
  Normally I would be concerned, but these days, we are well on our way to 3.5C. All this will do is cancel out progess China and Europe is making on renewals.
  It is to bad these people do not care how much of a sucky life they are handing their grandchildren. Wait to see what happens when millions of desperate people living south of the 40th parallel start heading north in mass. No wall will stop that.
  1. sippingabonedry · 1789931946 · focus · HN ↗
    > All this will do is cancel out progess China and Europe is making on renewals
    China brought 50 new coal plants online in 2025 alone but keep telling yourself that.
    layer8 · 1789932158 · focus · HN ↗
    China brought 78 gigawatts of new coal power capacity online in 2025, but also 315 gigawatts of solar capacity and 119 gigawatts of wind.
    tonfa · 1789932589 · focus · HN ↗
    And coal is mostly flat, while electricity demand is going up.
    <a href="https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2026/09/China-Energy-Transition-Review-2026.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2026/09/China-Energy-Tr...
    (Page 14)
    leonidasrup · 1789936464 · focus · HN ↗
    China mined more coal in 2025 then ever, but burned less in coal plans. Coal is slowly shifting from electricity production to synthetic oil and chemical production.
    <a href="https://www.mining.com/web/chinas-coal-output-hits-record-in-2025-even-as-it-burns-less/" rel="nofollow">https://www.mining.com/web/chinas-coal-output-hits-record-in...
    <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/chinas-top-coal-region-expand-coal-to-oil-output-energy-security-push-2026-06-12/" rel="nofollow">https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/chinas-top-coal-regi...
    sippingabonedry · 1789932877 · focus · HN ↗
    Which is easy to do when you live an authoritarian state with plenty of vast desert wastelands to erect solar/wind farms. Was there a village there last week? Not anymore, it was in the way. And best of all they can build it all with Uyghur forced labor. Accolades for China all around!
    harimau777 · 1789935569 · focus · HN ↗
    Yes, and?
    That's not really relevant to the topic at hand. No one has said that China is a utopia and paragon of human rights.
    piva00 · 1789937062 · focus · HN ↗
    I don't see the USA building out that much solar in its vast desert wastelands.
    consensus1 · 1789943022 · focus · HN ↗
    78 GW of coal is pretty damn near 78 GW. 315 GW of solar / wind capacity is nowhere near that level of utilization.
    Timon3 · 1789943979 · focus · HN ↗
    Would you mind sharing your source? AFAIK the coal plants are only backups, so it'd be very surprising if they're utilized as much as the solar capacity.

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