Coal - Bridge to the Future

Fülszöveg

COAL-Bridge to the Future This Report presents a plausible solution for the world's most acute energy need-increasing fuel supplies to support essential growth. It shows how coal can meet that need and be mined, moved and used in ways which meet stringent environmental standards. Coal already provides 25 percent of the world's energy. Reserves are abundant, technology for using it is well established, and it is relatively cheap and likely to remain so. This analysis of the world's energy and coal prospects to the year 2000 was prepared by the World Coal Study (WOCOL), an international project involving eighty people from sixteen major coal producing and consuming countries in intensive work over eighteen months. WOCOL was directed by Carroll L. Wilson of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Here are somé of its major conclusions: • Even under the moderate energy growth assumptions of the Study, world coal production will have to increase 2.5 to 3 times, and the world trade in... Tovább

Fülszöveg

COAL-Bridge to the Future This Report presents a plausible solution for the world's most acute energy need-increasing fuel supplies to support essential growth. It shows how coal can meet that need and be mined, moved and used in ways which meet stringent environmental standards. Coal already provides 25 percent of the world's energy. Reserves are abundant, technology for using it is well established, and it is relatively cheap and likely to remain so. This analysis of the world's energy and coal prospects to the year 2000 was prepared by the World Coal Study (WOCOL), an international project involving eighty people from sixteen major coal producing and consuming countries in intensive work over eighteen months. WOCOL was directed by Carroll L. Wilson of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Here are somé of its major conclusions: • Even under the moderate energy growth assumptions of the Study, world coal production will have to increase 2.5 to 3 times, and the world trade in steam coal will have to grow 10 to 15 times by the end of the century. • Coal will have to supply between one-half and two-thirds of the additional energy needed by the world during this period. • Coal is already economically competitive in many locations for the generation of electricity and in many industrial and other uses. • The amount of capital required to expand the production, transport, and user facilities to triple the use of coal is within the capacity of domestic and international capital markets. This message of cautious optimism is welcome as we bump the ceiling on world oil supply and encounter increasing delays and uncertainties about nuclear energy. But this optimism is justified only if many decisions are taken very soon because of the lead-times involved. Coal is not claimed as the ultimate energy source but as an essential "bridge to the future" as the world manages the transition away from dependence on oil. Vissza