What a week it has been for folks who follow energy and the environment. In the span of just five days, the United Nations opened its climate conference in Bali ; American CEOs said that for the first time ever, energy is tied with health care as the highest cost pressure for their companies; the U.S. Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee sent the first major global warming bill of the 110th Congress to the Senate floor; and energy legislation cleared the U.S. House of Representatives.
While I could write several posts providing details and opinions on each of these events, I’d like to stray off course a bit and look at an issue that is intrinsically linked to all of them –coal – the natural resource that is likely powering the very monitor you are reading from right now. The use of coal solicits a wide-range of passionate opinions, but unless you’ve found some miraculous way to ‘live off the grid,’ you cannot deny that it is a vital energy source and essential for the quality of life we’ve all come to expect.
But what role will coal play in the 21st century? In 2006, nearly half of the country’s 4.1 trillion kilowatthours of electricity used coal as its source of energy. Worldwide, coal will continue to play an important role in driving economic development, improving standards of living and alleviating poverty. So the question ultimately leads to how can we continue to use this abundant source of energy in the most efficient and climate friendly way, while maintaining and improving our quality of life?