All hype and hallucinations about any transition to net-zero green energy nirvana aside, global population growth and increased vehicular electrification coupled with enormous demands for reliable power being imposed to support new artificial intelligence and mega data centers are driving needs for reliable energy and transmission infrastructure from all practical available sources, coal very much included.
According to estimates in The Wall Street Journal, of April 15, 2024, data centers that accounted for about 2.5% of U.S. electricity in 2022 are projected to consume more than 20% by 2030.
That power is needed around-the-clock 24/7, competing with nighttime electric vehicle recharging demands, particularly when there is no sunlight and the wind isn't blowing.
Germany — once hailed as a leader in the renewable energy revolution by investing heavily in subsidizing intermittent, weather-dependent solar and wind — has learned this lesson the hard way with the highest energy prices in Europe and is being forced to turn back to coal-fired power plants to reliably meet minimum power-grid baseload demands.
The recent power disruption turning off lights and paralyzing lives of approximately 55 million people across Spain, Portugal, and southern France might serve as another prescient lesson regarding excessive integration of renewable energy into the Spanish system, with solar and wind increased from less than 23% in 2015 to more than 45% last year while phasing out nuclear generation.
Given that the blackout occurred on a sunny day when the Iberian grid was powered by 74% renewables, including reliable hydro, with 55% coming from solar, this leaves wind as the only contributing culprit.
Coal is among the most affordable sources of electricity in terms of the production cost per megawatt-hour, especially when factoring in high transmission and grid integration costs associated with wind and solar installations that are typically distant from metropolitan and industrial demand centers.
In the U.S., coal remains even more cost-efficient than natural gas in regions such as the Midwest, where the energy grid is more reliant on coal-fired plants.
Coal-fired plants produced about 16% of U.S. electricity in 2023 — down from 52% in 1990 — compared with natural gas supplying 43%, and nuclear 20%.
Whereas traditional coal-fired generation that burns the fuel source directly can dramatically reduce particulate pollution using advanced flue gas cleaning systems, coal gasification that captures not just nitrogen oxides and sulfer oxides but also mercury, additionally affords opportunities to capture carbon dioxide for practical applications such as replacement of water in fracking of shale to release oil and natural gas.
Carbon capture reduces the cost of compliance with environmental legislation premised upon carbon dioxide emissions representing a de facto "climate pollutant," whereas leafy plants depend upon it as essential food they generously exchange for oxygen.
In any case, the federal government currently offers a 45Q tax credit incentive designed to encourage carbon capture and sequestration storage or utilization projects ranging from $60 (for captured and utilized carbon dioxide) to $180 per ton (for carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere).
As described by the U.S. Department of Energy, gasification is a thermochemical process in which heat and pressure break coal down into its chemical constituents, the resulting "syngas" primarily comprised of carbon monoxide and hydrogen along with other gaseous compounds.
Coal gasification offers greater efficiency than conventional coal-burning because it can effectively use the gas twice. The syngas is first fired in a turbine to generate electricity, and then the exhaust heat can be captured and used to generate steam for a steam turbine generator.
This dual "combined cycle" process can potentially achieve an efficiency of 50% or more, compared with a coal-fired plant which is closer to 30%.
Syngas produced through gasification can be used for other applications, including creation of synthetic natural gas, methanol and ethanol, ammonia for fertilizers, and chemicals used in refining and petrochemical industries.
Hydrogen extracted from gasification has useful fuel applications; and while syngas can also be converted into transportation fuel, it is far less efficient than current production and burning of petroleum-based gasoline.
An April Trump administration executive order titled "Unleashing American Energy" bodes well for coal to return to serve a more vital role in addressing these needs in large part by directing agencies to roll back National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations and streamline permitting processes.
The order states: "Our Nation's beautiful clean coal resources will be critical to meeting the rise in electricity demand due to the resurgence of domestic manufacturing and the construction of artificial intelligence data processing centers."
It emphasizes, "We must encourage and support our Nation's coal industry to increase our energy supply, lower electricity costs, stabilize our grid, create high-paying jobs, support burgeoning industries, and assist our allies."
In May, the U.S. Supreme Court appeared to support the Trump NEPA order regulatory rollback with Justice Brett Kavanagh explaining that "the goal of law is to inform agency decision making, not paralyze it."
Contrary to a widespread narrative that America can and should transition from fossil energy, including coal, more exclusively to "renewables," broadly assumed to mean wind and solar, America's prosperous and secure energy future will require advancing, growing, and integrating all available sources into robust electrical power grids and fuel distribution infrastructures.
Rather than an outmoded past relic, coal must represent a significant part of this mix as an abundant, reliable, affordable source of electricity, fuel components, and petrochemicals to meet growing national and global demands.
And, yes, in making the world greener, those leafy plants and all of God's breathing and feeding creatures that depend on them can be grateful, too.
Larry Bell is an endowed professor of space architecture at the University of Houston where he founded the Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture and the graduate space architecture program. His latest of 12 books is "Architectures Beyond Boxes and Boundaries: My Life By Design" (2022). Read Larry Bell's Reports — More Here.
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