Coal integral part of energy mix in 2050, study finds

We’ve been saying for quite some time that coal, which supplies half of the country’s electricity, will remain part of this nation’s energy mix. Today, yet another study illustrated our point.

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) found that while we’ll be living in a low-carbon world come 2050, a sizeable portion of our energy will indeed come from coal. The snapshot of our energy landscape come 2050 includes nuclear plants and coal-based plants supplying two-thirds of our energy, with carbon capture technologies in place to remove CO2 emissions.

What about renewables? EPRI projects that wind and biomass will supply about a quarter of the electricity while “solar will not play a significant role.” Revis W. James, the director of EPRI’s Energy Technology Assessment Center said that wind and biomass are the only renewable sources likely to have cost low enough to compete, at least in the short-term.

The EPRI report (covered here by New York Times’ blog, Green Inc.,) also noted that the cost of CCS will be shaped by new regulations, construction costs and geography. As we’ve said before, as with any technology, it’s always more expensive when it first comes out (think about plasma TVs). That’s why demonstration projects are so important—they allow us to drive down the cost of technology and ultimately deliver environmental benefits at an affordable price to consumers.

When you get down to brass tacks, the fact remains that we need all of our domestic energy sources to fuel America’s clean energy future. And we need to come together on the issue of energy to develop technologies that protect the planet and create American jobs. We’ve done it before—we can do it again.