Coal is not dead – yet

Coal is thought to be one of the key villains in our fight against climate change.

And for a reason – almost 30% of all the global CO2 emissions come from power generation, and coal-based power plants contribute a dominant share of these emissions.

While countries are trying to cut down on coal-based power and increase power from renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, it is not that easy.

Countries such as India, China and South Africa still rely significantly on coal for their power generation. These cannot be turned off easily. In fact, a recent draft plan from the Indian government expects a significant addition to India’s coal power plant capacity over the next ten years.

While coal will eventually go away, expect it to linger around for decades.

What this implies is that it is important to figure out ways by which coal power plants can be made low carbon – be it through high operational efficiencies, partial blending of biomass with coal, or through capture & storage of CO2 emissions from these plants.