The future is clean

摘要

More of the world's electric power comes from coal than from oil and gas together: a third of Britain's, half of Germany's or America's, three-quarters of India's or China's. And the fuel has one huge advantage: it does not come from the Middle East. But, thanks not least to China's rapid economic growth, the price of coal has doubled since January. No wonder the governments of coal-rich countries are content, the firms that dig it up are rubbing their hands, while the users are looking hard for more efficient ways of burning the stuff.