Prediction #2 (of 3) from Energy Consultant Petak: Thanks to Plug-in Electric Cars, Coal’s Future Bright
Posted: July 20, 2007
When the United States Congress recently debated new energy legislation, many observers expected coal to take it on the chin because of the environmental damage caused by coal-fired power plants.
While Republicans managed to stave off damage, coal remains in environmental activists’ crosshairs. Indeed, when Democratic presidential candidate Barrack Obama recently voiced support for technology that converts coal into a liquid that can substitute for gasoline, he got into hot water with members of his own party.
But according to Kevin Petak, director of energy modeling and forecasting at Energy and Environmental Analysis Inc., an Arlington, VA consulting firm, coal won’t just survive. It’s going to thrive in this increasingly energy-constrained world.
Petak told EnergyTechStocks.com the overall reason why coal’s future is bright is energy security. He predicted that it is going to become increasingly obvious to people that there simply is no alternative to coal for countries like the United States and China.
Petak further said that without coal-generated electricity, the U.S. won’t be able to meet the power demands for what he expects will be a rapidly growing number of vehicles on U.S. highways that run on electricity supplied through an ordinary electrical outlet.
“Thanks to plug-in electric cars, coal has a future,” Petak told EnergyTechStocks.com.
No one knows exactly when plug-in electric vehicles will reach U.S. showrooms, but some observers think it could be as early as 2008 or 2009. The big advantages of plug-in electric cars and trucks should be that they can be fuelled for a lot less than what gasoline costs, and that they can run emissions-free.
Fuelling is expected to be accomplished by having millions of these vehicles plugged in to home electrical outlets during the overnight hours. But for that to be cost effective, electricity from so-called baseload power plants that cost-effectively operate 24 hours a day will be required. There are two main baseload plants – nuclear and coal-fired – with nuclear’s political baggage making coal an absolute necessity.
To be sure, coal will continue to have baggage of its own. While the thought of emissions-free electric vehicles is appealing, without new technology that captures coal-fired power plants’ carbon dioxide emissions, coal’s contribution to global warming will remain a critical environmental problem. Some observers have said that CCS (carbon capture and sequestration) technology is the single greatest new energy technology that must be developed.