The World Market for Coal
The success of Google's "RE less than C" initiative hinges on coal (C). This talk will review major developments in the coal industry worldwide and explain why coal will be very difficult to unseat in the emerging markets where growth in consumption is most rapid. In the industrialized world the situation is different, and the recent explosion in the cost of building and operating new coal-fired power plants means that in some settings renewable energy (RE) already cheaper than coal. Yet the coal industry has never been so competitive as it is today, and it is possible that coal could remain a dominant energy source even in a carbon-constrained world. So far, however, actual investment in the new technologies needed to make coal competitive has been about two orders of magnitude less than needed.
Speaker: David Victor
David Victor is Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and Director of the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. The Program, launched in September 2001, focuses on power sector reform, the emerging global market for natural gas, energy services for the world's poor, the practical challenges in managing climate change, and the role of state-controlled oil and gas companies in the world's hydrocarbon markets. Much of the Program's research concentrates in Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa. He teaches energy law, regulation and political economy at Stanford Law School.
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