As governments wrestle with the implications of carbon emissions and global warming, electric utilities dependent on coal-fired power plants are pondering their response to the situation and probable future carbon regulation. With 50-60% percent of the nation’s electricity coming from coal, the question is a huge one for utilities. The cheapest plants to operate are the oldest and dirtiest, so utilities have generally been reluctant bring plants up to the latest standards. Now they have to consider carbon risk in their future plans and weigh the possibility that what looked like a good investment in a coal-fired power plant in 2007 will turn out to be a bad ideas in a future where coal use is taxed or otherwise affected by regulation.
What role should coal play in our energy future?
