Full Title: Managing Coal: How to Achieve Reasonable Risk With an Essential Resource
Author(s): Peter S. Glaser, F. William Brownell, and Victor E. Schwartz
Publisher(s): Vermont Journal of Environmental Law
Publication Date: October 1, 2012
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
Can the future of world energy production occur without coal? Coal as an energy source laid the foundation for the modern industrial era. In the twentieth century, the ability to broadly and efficiently turn coal into electricity made possible the major technology developments that have defined modern society, and led to rising standards of living and longer life spans throughout the world. The U.S. Academy of Engineering called this societal electrification the “greatest engineering achievement” of the past century, a century that saw population growth of over four billion people, the rise of the metropolis, dramatic improvements in diet and health, and emergence of a vast system of electronic communication.
Today, electricity generation still relies heavily on coal-burning power plants, which provide forty-six percent of electricity production in the United States and approximately forty percent of electricity worldwide. America’s coal reserves have also been estimated to contain more energy value than Saudi Arabia’s oil. So, what does the future hold? One thing is for certain: demand for electricity is going to continue to rise. Net U.S. electricity demand is expected to increase by thirty-one percent between 2009 and 2035, with similar increases around the world. Thus, given current production and reserves, it seems clear that if the United States is and other countries are going to meet this rapidly increasing demand for electricity, coal is going to continue to be an essential resource.