Coal companies are literally going bankrupt as coal plants get decommissioned. When it comes to actual political power, the fossil fuel industry you want to watch out for is oil and gas, not coal.
Mine all the coal you want. If you don’t have anyone willing to buy from you, at a price that covers the cost of extraction, you will fail.
So even though the coal companies’ bankruptcies are getting them out of their cleanup and decommissioning obligations, the root cause of that is that coal just isn’t competitive as an energy source.
LesserAbe@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I’m saying it does matter. When you go to a business and say you can buy a widget for $1000, or for $500, and they both do the same thing, the business will choose the cheaper one. Sure, lobbying will get businesses some favors, loosen some regulation, get some subsidies, but at a certain point it’s not enough, the economics take over.
helenslunch@feddit.nl 4 months ago
I’m saying it doesn’t matter.
Okay, but that’s not what’s happening. What’s happening is one business/industry controls to the supply for that widget, and that business only sells the $1,000 one, because they invested $1B to ensure that was the only option. Because that business does not offer the $500 option, and does not care to.
LesserAbe@lemmy.world 4 months ago
?
The article I shared is about how solar is now the cheapest form of power. So that is what’s happening.
helenslunch@feddit.nl 4 months ago
I don’t know how many different ways I can explain this. It doesn’t matter how cheap it is when no one is buying it.