Firstly, the utility companies are very likely to revert back to coal fired power generation from gas fired as soon as the gas prices get past coal prices on per BTU basis.
But he said for it to be "fully convincing", Mr Cameron should be clear he would rule out all "dirty" coal fired power stations - including plans for a new plant at Kingsnorth, Kent.
It also said it expected the plant to create 70 long-term jobs and save the country nearly three million tonnes of carbon over its 20 year life, compared to a traditional coal fired power station.
The UK government selected the gas-fired power station at Peterhead in Aberdeenshire and the coal-fired power station at Drax in North Yorkshire.
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Alongside coal-fired power stations and coal exports, a coal conundrum is growing.
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Coal-fired power plants and coal mines are being shuttered at an unprecedented pace mainly because the price of natural gas has dropped so far that it has made coal power uncompetitive.
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Germany's decision to scrap all nuclear power and build more coal-fired power stations can only boost production further.
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Mr Finnie was referring to the application by Ayrshire Power to build a coal-fired power station at the plant in North Ayrshire, during a member's debate on 15 September 2010.
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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In June, American Electric Power announced it would have to shutter five coal-fired power plants, at a cost of 600 jobs, in order to comply with new EPA rules.
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.
American Electric Power, meanwhile, said that it would close three coal-fired power plants in Ohio, part of an earlier legal settlement that also requires the company to build 200 megawatts of wind and solar.
As small heat-and-power units spread to homes and offices, the inefficiency of dirty coal-fired power plants would be exposed.
But Indonesia has coal-fired power stations under construction that will absorb an extra 20m tonnes or so of coal by 2011, points out Adam Worthington, a commodities analyst at Macquarie Securities.
TXU, Texas's main power-generator, led the company to abandon eight out of 11 planned coal-fired power stations because the private equity firm concerned, Texas Pacific, wanted to square the environmental movement.
Since power plants that burn natural gas emit about half the amount of the greenhouse gases as coal-fired power, some say that the gas drilling boom has helped the U.S. become the only major industrialized country to significantly reduce greenhouse emissions.
Cheap natural gas and environmental regulations are causing utilities to shut down coal-fired power plants.
But even operators of coal-fired power plants understand that this isn't the way of the future.
Even the company's well-meaning initiative to save the world from coal-fired power plants got tossed.
When pressed, Stephen Tetlow, chief executive of IMechE, offered the example of coal-fired power stations.
The country keeps adding new capacity: estimates run as high as two coal-fired power plants per week.
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The South African government says almost 90% of the country's electricity is generated by coal-fired power stations.
In theory, there is a long queue of coal-fired power stations waiting to be built in America.
It designs and builds oil refineries, petrochemical plants, liquefied natural gas terminals and boilers for coal-fired power plants.
He said that by 2020, all new coal-fired power stations must be fitted with "carbon capture and storage".
Meanwhile, the life of old coal-fired power stations is being extended by subsidising them to burn wood pellets.
Concerns about the effect of new coal-fired power plants on the destabilizing climate.
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It also said that ministers had to consider keeping some of the coal-fired power stations earmarked for closure online.
Coal-fired power plants are now generating just 36 percent of U.S. electricity, versus 44.6 percent just one year ago.
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Mr. BASKIND: We're talking about coal-fired power plants a lot right now because they emit a lot of carbon dioxide.
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