The world adds 100 gigawatts of coal-fired electricity every year, much of it in China and India.
Globally, coal-fired electricity generation rose by an estimated 6% from 2010 to 2012 , faster than non-fossil energy.
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The harmful pollutants released into the air by coal-fired electricity generation, such as sulphur, also dampen the greenhouse effect.
Why not simply convert coal-fired electricity-generating plants to natural gas?
Moreover, coal-fired electricity producers in Europe have invested heavily in new clean-coal technologies over euro7 billion in the past three years in order to make coal power plants more efficient and environmentally friendly.
The damage done to Japanese nuclear facilities has given new ammunition to critics of nuclear power, just as the industry and many of its supporters in Washington were hoping for a revival of U.S. nuclear power as an alternative to coal-fired electricity generation.
Mr Simplot himself, an avowed lover of skiing, duck shooting and the great outdoors, was attacked in the 1970s for his support for new coal-fired electricity plants along the Snake river and for a scheme to generate hydro-power by diverting water from another river into a vast underground tube.
Coal is the dominant energy source for generating electricity in China, with Coal-fired power plants account for nearly three quarters of electricity produced in China, and the most intense demand is along the coast in Eastern Chinese provinces.
In fact, the U.S. hit a milestone in April of this year when government data showed that natural gas-fired power plants supplied as much electricity to the nation as coal-fired plants for the first time.
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That coal- and oil-fired electricity powers our computers, enables the transmission of data between networks and, increasingly supplies the energy to servers that store and process an ever growing mountain of information.
All of the panels now installed across the nation produce only about as much electricity as a single coal-fired plant (about 0.01% of U.S. electricity).
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Electric cars help fight global warming because they contribute less greenhouse gases to the atmosphere than gasoline-powered cars, even if the electricity is made in a coal-fired power plant.
This is a big year for lobbying, and natural gas producers could indeed benefit from a cap-and-trade bill because it would create an incentive to rely less on electricity generated by traditional coal-fired power plants.
In the UK, during 2012, electricity generation from coal-fired power stations actually increased to almost 40% of total production, as the price of gas soared, and gas-fired electricity generation was reduced.
The real culprits are diesel burning trucks and buses (many of which are still operating at Euro III emission levels), factories, and the coal-fired power plants that will supply the electricity for the electric vehicles.
Even Trip Doggett, president of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, has come out publicly saying that the decision by the EPA to curtail emissions from coal-fired power would jeopardize the supplies of electricity in Texas.
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The South African government says almost 90% of the country's electricity is generated by coal-fired power stations.
That's because they use less electricity and coal-fired power plants are the biggest source of mercury emissions in the air.
Figure 2 shows that electricity net generation from coal-fired power plants declined by an estimated 25 percent between 2007 and 2012.
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Once the bane of environmentalists, the nuclear industry enjoyed newfound "green" credentials as a cleaner alternative to coal-fired plants that belch greenhouse gases to produce electricity.
As a result of current low natural gas prices, natural gas-fired power plant operating costs have fallen so much that they are now displacing previously lower cost coal-fired power in the dispatch order of many electricity supply regions.
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As well, construction costs for LNG and coal-fired plants to be able to generate this additional electricity would be substantial.
My (much smarter) brother Robert showed the House Natural Resources Committee on September 22 that federal subsidies related to fossil-fuel (mainly coal and natural gas) fired electricity are about 68 cents per million watts.
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The investments will, among other things, hook up new wind farms and nuclear power stations to the electricity grid to replace traditional coal-fired power stations, and enable more liquefied natural gas imported from Qatar and elsewhere to be added to the gas network as North Sea gas supplies dwindle.
The additional nuclear power plants would also have the advantage of being less vulnerable to fuel price changes than coal or gas-fired generation, helping to enhance the security of electricity supplies.
Two earlier initiatives, fostering renewable electricity generation at a price cheaper than coal-fired power and promotion of electric vehicles (presumably powered by renewable power) were announced in November (See " Google Goes Green").
RWE, Germany's largest electricity generator, has reduced the proportion of coal-fired plants from 56 per cent of total capacity in 2006 to about 50 per cent at the end of 2011.
And as indigenous supplies fall, a looming shortfall in electricity generation (elderly nuclear plants and dirty coal-fired stations must soon be closed) will have to be met largely through more gas, which already provides 40% of Britain's power.
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Throw in 3 cents in federal and state subsidies and the electricity is competitive with the output from a new coal-fired plant.
Fifty years ago, Japanese electricity was generated by smaller, discrete coal- and oil-fired plants.
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