by Patrick Appel
Robert Bryce says "it’s obvious that coal will be powering the global economy for many decades to come":
[E]ven if the EPA and the Obama administration succeed in prohibiting new coal-fired electricity generation in the United States, they will leave global coal demand and CO2 emissions almost unchanged. Over the past decade or so, American coal consumption fell by 5 percent, but global coal consumption soared, growing by about the same amount as the growth in oil, natural gas, and nuclear combined.
Coal now fuels about 40 percent of global electricity production. Coal’s dominance helps explain why global CO2 emissions rose by 28.5 percent between 2001 and 2010, even as American CO2 emissions fell by 1.7 percent. Over the past decade, even if American emissions had dropped to zero, global emissions would still have increased.
Bryce admits that coal is a dirty energy source but he argues that we should embrace our coal dependence because "the EPA’s rule simply encourages domestic coal producers to ship more of their product to overseas electricity producers, who will happily burn it." Reihan adds:
This is one reason why resistance to increased natural gas production is so potentially problematic: it undermines the most readily accessible low-carbon alternative to coal.
Fallows's article from a few years back on our desperate need for cleaner coal is worth re-reading. Fallows follow up here.
The Dish 