Can't do without the dirtiest fuel, can we?

"Industry makes up only 25 percent of grid demand in the US, but in China it is fully 59 percent of the total -- more than all the country's homes, offices and retail stores put together," Taipei Times. "Cheap power has been an essential tool of development, and the government has traditionally encouraged major users with electricity tariffs that get cheaper the more you consume." In India, on the other hand, price of electricity per unit rises with the level of consumption, with each state having a different rate for domestic users, ranging from Rs 4 per kwh in Sikkim to Rs 11.82 per kwh in Maharashtra, Bijli Bachao. According to purchasing power parity (PPP),  India had the highest rates for industrial users in 2019 compared to the US, Canada, Russia, China, Japan and Brazil, iea.org.  About two-thirds of electricity comes from coal and flooding in the coal hub of Shanxi Province has driven up coal prices to 1,508 yuan (US$234) a metric tonne. The trouble is that the world is dependent on cheap goods from China, produced with cheap electricity. so any disruption in China will result in higher prices everywhere. "A widening power crisis in China - caused by shortages of coal, record high fuel prices and booming post-pandemic industrial demand as it shifts to greener fuels - has halted production at numerous factories including many supplying big global brands such as Apple Inc. Soaring energy prices helped send producer price index (PPI) its highest in at least 25 years in September, rising 10.7% year-on-year, official Chinese data showed," Economic Times (ET). "As a worsening power shortage ripples through China Inc, with provinces asking high-energy industries to curtail usage, semi-conductor machinery makers and manufacturers along with electric-vehicle supply chain have had to shutter production,' ET. "Prices of lithium compounds and spodumene, battery ingredients, have shot up in recent weeks and made it even more expensive to produce power packs." As a result, "The world's second-largest economy grew 4.9% over a year ago in the three months ending in September, down from the previous quarter's 7.9%, government data showed. Factory output, retail sales and investment in construction and other fixed assets all weakened," ET. China is looking elsewhere to augment its wealth. "China is expanding its digital footprints in Africa as a key element of its post Covid economic strategy for the continent and its companies are reported to invest $8.3 bn in the continent as part of its grand strategy," ET. Naturally, "Millions of internet addresses assigned to Africa have been waylaid, some fraudulently, including through insider machinations linked to a former top employee of the non-profit that assigns the continent's addresses," Business Standard. Pakistan is already subservient and can be disdained. "Ties between China and Pakistan, fostered withe Beijing supplying a range of modern armaments to Islamabad's defense forces, have come under a strain over unreliable Chinese military hardware and poor, substandard servicing and maintenance," ET. The world is having problems because of China, and China is having problems because of coal. So, the world is having problems because of coal. The dirtiest of all fossil fuels.