COMMENTARY — Marketing clean coal technologies

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) in the U.S. expects world coal consumption to increase by 30% between 1990 and 2010, from 5.1 billion to 6.5 billion tons.

Five regions stand out as major foreign markets for the export of U.S. clean coal technologies (CCT): China, the Pacific Rim (other than China), South Asia (primarily India), transitional economies (Central Europe and the newly independent states) and developing nations in the Americas and southern Africa.

Nearly two-thirds of the expected worldwide growth in coal utilization will occur in China, one-quarter in the U.S., and the remainder mostly in developing countries, primarily those of the Pacific Rim and South Asia. China is the world’s largest coal consumer, and EIA forecasts nearly one billion tons per year of additional coal consumption in China between 1990 and 2010, a virtual doubling of that country’s coal consumption. A 30% increase in coal consumption is projected in other developing countries over that same period. This increase in coal consumption will be accompanied by an increase in demand for technologies for burning coal economically, efficiently and cleanly.

In the Pacific Rim and South Asia, rapid economic growth coupled with substantial indigenous coal supplies combine to create a large potential market for CCTs. In Central Europe and the Newly Independent States, the challenge will be to correct the damage of decades of environmental neglect without adding to already considerable economic disruption.

China is the largest potential market for clean coal technologies in the world, because of the great magnitude of its projected coal use, which will grow to about 2 billion tons per year by 2010, about one-third of the world’s total. Strong economic growth, combined with electric supply problems, are placing the electricity sector under substantial pressure.

Three other developing nations in the Pacific Rim are markets for CCTs: Indonesia and South Korea (using coal imports) and Thailand. The Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam are also markets. The need for power is expected to grow significantly in these countries.

–From an article, adapted from the executive summary of a report to the U.S. Congress by the U.S. Department of Energy. It appeared in a recent issue of the American Mining Congress’s “Washington Concentrates.”