Recently in Coal Category

Everybody knows that coal provides the cheapest electricity in the US and that renewables have a ways to go before they can be cost-competitive without subsidies.

Or do they?

Coalseam gas has been a growing source of supply for Australia, but it's about to come under a new level of scrutiny. It's not just coalseam gas; the Australian government is looking at coal as well. Christine Forster writes about it in this week's Oilgram News column, Regulation & the Environment.

Now that the Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a regulation describing just what new coal and natural gas power plants must be like with respect to carbon dioxide emissions, one might think utilities and plant developers would have an easier time with long-range planning. The rule might deliver the certainty that executives always say they're looking for. 

But it's not necessarily so.

And now we're into electric power on this day at CERA, where electric power is the focus. But that inevitably brings in discussion of the things that produce that power.

On January 19, the NYMEX crude-to-gas futures contract ratio hit an all-time, 22-year high of 43-to-1, tightening to 36-to-1 January 25.

Here's the question: Who cares anymore?

Australian chemical company Penrice Soda Holdings this week took a big step toward realizing a commercial project using innovative technology to produce saleable chemicals from brine extracted from coalseam gas water.

Penrice CEO Guy Roberts first spoke to Platts in November 2010 about the company's plans to use a new method to treat brine from water produced by thousands of coalseam gas wells to be drilled in the eastern state of Queensland. Penrice subsequently signed an agreement with US-based GE Power & Water to build pilot plants to demonstrate the technology.

Al Gore's newly named Climate Reality Project (he's not giving up!) wants everyone to make September 14-15 "24 Hours of Reality," with people around the world sharing videos about climate change effects and local approaches to solutions.

Coal's role probably will be just one focus of the event, which aims at regular people, not so much at policymakers like members of Congress. It seems like the only thing to do right now for people who want to get at greenhouse gas emissions, because CO2 reduction might be last on the list of things that stand a chance of being done in Washington. It might even be first on the list of things that stand no chance of being done in Washington. It appears Michael Bloomberg agrees somewhat with the more grassroots approach.