Future of coal

Coal has been in the news recently. In many states coal is complementary to natural gas in electricity generation (the exceptions being states with large shares of hydro or nuclear production). So growth in gas could mean reductions in coal. That's indeed what we're seeing within the US and in the world export market. This article in the New York Times about scaling back prospects for coal exports and even the value of coal within the US is quite relevant to our discussion last week. Notice that the plans were for growth in coal export facilities to more than double, but those plans have been cancelled fast on the heels of efforts to clean up the air around major Chinese cities (which have some of the world's worst air quality) by reducing local electricity generation from coal.

Remember that US coal exports are modest compared with domestic coal consumption, so declining investment in export facilities won't by itself have much of an impact on domestic coal production. Limits on greenhouse gas emissions from existing coal-fired power plants surely would though.