Economics of the International Coal Trade
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- Synopsis
- Coal, the catalyst of the industrial age, is now poised to shape how the world consumes energy in the twenty-?rst century. The ascendance of oil in the global economy to a looming peak is forcing countries, companies, and consumers to reconsider their relationship to something they cannot live without: energy. And whileothersourcesofenergy, suchasnuclear, naturalgas, andrenewables, willall play an ever greater role in serving demand, intelligent observers would be wise not to miss what is perhaps the clearest trend of all: the second coal era is now uponus. Thedevelopingworldisrapidlyelectrifyinginordertodriveeconomicgrowth. Andelectri?cationmeanscoal. ThisisparticularlytrueinIndiaandChina, where coaloffersthecheapestandmostreliableroutetoelectricpower. Thesetwoco- triesalonewilldrive80%ofcoalconsumptiongrowthto2030. TheInternational EnergyAgencyexpectsthatglobalcoalconsumptionwillincreaseby60%inthe nexttwodecades. LarsSchernikau sTheRenaissanceofSteamCoalcouldnotcome atabettertime. Lars skillintracingthelongarcofindustrialevolutionpairedwith his acute knowledge of the coal market make his arguments both insightful and highlycredible. Hebeginsbysuccinctlyframingtheproblemanddistillingourc- rentpredicament: wearecaughtbetween theOilAge andthe theSolarAge (by thishemeanstheageofrenewables). Wearealloptimiststosomedegree, butthe realistsamongusknowthatrenewableenergyisnotgoingtocompletely?llthis gapfordecades. Where, then, doesthisleaveus?ItleavesuswithTheRenaissance ofSteamCoal. Coal is now the world s fastest growing source of fossil fuel, a position it is expected to hold for the foreseeable future. Yet the coal market is far less well understoodthantheoilorgasmarkets. Academics, policymakers, andmarketp- ticipantsarefacedwiththeprospectofourcollectiveknowledgeaboutthismarket notkeepingpacewithitsincreasingrelevance. Coal, only30yearsagoalocalized fuelsource, isnowavolatileglobalcommoditywithbanksandhedgefundspiling intotheoncetraditionalbusiness. Notonlyisthecoalmarketnowmorerelevant thanever, it salsomuchmorecomplex. "
- Copyright:
- 2010
Book Details
- Book Quality:
- Publisher Quality
- ISBN-13:
- 9783319465579
- Publisher:
- Springer International Publishing, Cham
- Date of Addition:
- 05/19/17
- Copyrighted By:
- Springer
- Adult content:
- No
- Language:
- English
- Has Image Descriptions:
- No
- Categories:
- Nonfiction, Outdoors and Nature, Earth Sciences
- Submitted By:
- Bookshare Staff
- Usage Restrictions:
- This is a copyrighted book.