Coal - is it a competitor to new nuclear?

摘要

With the development of 'clean' technologies, coal could continue to play a major part in the generation mix. But first both technical and economic challenges need to be overcome.rnThe International Energy Agency (IEA) has clearly demonstrated in recent editions of its World Energy Outlook that their reference case for world energy growth is environmentally unsustainable. Coal is today an extremely important fuel and on current trends and government policies will undoubtedly remain so. Some 23% of world primary energy needs are currently met by coal and 39% of electricity is generated from it, while about 70% of world steel production depends on coal feedstock. Coal is the world's most abundant and widely distributed fossil fuel source and by 2030, spurred on by increasing use in China and India (both of whom have abundant coal reserves), the dependence on coal could even increase.