Increasing Use Of Coal In US and GloballyThere are 2 projections in the increasing shares of coal in electricity generation:
IEA – From 41% ~ 44% between 2006 and 2015 globally.
DOE/EIA - From 49% ~ 54% between 2006 and 2030 in US.
On the contrary, IEA expected nuclear's share in power generation to drop to 10 percent by 2030 from 15 percent in 2006.
Considering the emergence of plug-in hybrid vehicles and if widely embraced by consumers, we can only expect electricity demand to rise even much more than anybody has projected so far.
The US has expressed strong desire to be energy independent. There are several components to fit in that equation, but one of them is obviously to use Coal To Liquid (fuel) process to substitute imported oil.
Do we see a big boom in demand for coal coming?
KT