Coal

EPRI Podcast: Advanced Coal and Fossil CCS

Options for the Future

Is coal dead? No, but it's facing an uphill battle in the U.S., according to EPRI's Jeff Phillips, senior program manager for advanced fossil generation. And so began a thought-provoking conversation about where we are today, and the innovation needed to make fossil fuels relevant in the future.

Essential Role of Fossil Fuels in Future Economic Growth

Essential in the 20th Century, and in the 21st

World economic growth over the past two centuries was powered largely by fossil fuels. More than 75 million people are being added to cities globally each year, driving greater energy and infrastructure needs. Fossil fuels will remain the essential global energy sources.

Unsung Role of Fossil Fuels in the Miracle of U.S. Growth

Past, Present, and Future, Part I

Robert Gordon’s seminal book, The Rise and Fall of American Growth, has a pessimistic message with profound economic, social, and political implications. But nowhere in Gordon’s 762-page book does he give credit to fossil fuels for the economic miracle of the past two centuries. In this article, I focus on the critical historical role that fossil fuels played in creating the technological and economic miracles that Gordon articulates so well.

An Industry Transformed

Looking back on my 45 years in the energy sector.

By diving into today’s more diverse energy sector and embracing change, utilities stand to benefit over the long term. This is precisely why I am so excited about the future, even if I do occasionally look back wistfully on the past.

Schneiderman Targets Peabody Energy

Shareholder Protection or War on Coal?

Why did Schneiderman sue Peabody? Because Peabody is America’s biggest coal company. He also likely wanted to establish a precedent before launching a Martin Act investigation of even bigger game: ExxonMobil.

The CO2 Opportunity

Converting emissions from coal-fired plants to gasoline, diesel, or jet fuel.

An economical commercial process is needed to provide an incentive for the utility industries to engender win-win support for governmental regulations on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The current approach is carbon capture and sequestration. Recently, however, an alternative has emerged: a proprietary process that converts CO2 into syngas (CO & H2). Thereafter, the syngas can be converted to fuels such as gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, methanol, and/or ethanol with the use of established mature technologies.

Utilities Cutting Cord to Coal

It’s not personal. It’s just business.

With coal’s troubles piling up, so too are stories about the industry’s “bleak” future in the United States – a casualty of cheap natural gas, thinning coal seams, and the pursuit of lower-carbon alternatives. Just as conspicuous: utilities, which have long allied themselves with the coal developers, are retiring their older coal units in droves.

EPA, NERC and Reliability

Expect more analysis – more scenarios, more detail – as state compliance plans become better known.

As things stand today, even without the Clean Power Plan, we expect to see the retirement of more than 6 percent of North America’s generation capacity by 2030.