In the US, notwithstanding gains made by natural gas in the last decade, coal is still king. Approximately 49% of US electricity is powered by coal, down only 2% in the last 10 years despite the lower marginal cost of additional gas-fired generating capacity, and a number of initiatives at a state and federal levels to encourage renewables, reduce SOx and NOx emissions and cap CO2 emissions. The popularity of coal as an energy source for power generation is due to its relatively low cost as a commodity and its abundance – there are enough identified coal reserves globally to last another 130 years at current extraction rates, over a quarter of which lie in the US.
The recent announcement by the US National Academy of Sciences that coal is also inflicting upon wider US society $62 billion worth of damages annually, will not be viewed as good news by the industry. But, ironically, this may justify arguments for funding further research into ‘clean coal’ technology in order to avoid some of the immediate negative health and environmental impacts of traditional coal burning technology. This would give the national energy mix time to become less reliant on coal as an energy source while mitigating the immediate negative consequences of coal-fired generation. In the interest of the US taxpayer, it may even justify US Government support in order to do so.