Coal’s Role in the World Energetic System
Coal’s Role in the World Energetic System

Summary/Abstract: The world energy needs are on the rise, and they come from developing economies, especially the emerging ones such as China or India with high demographic and economic growth rates. These countries future demand for energy will shape the world’s energetic system. They will require considerable quantities of energy to fuel their demanding economies. The last decade has shown that the world’s energetic needs are being reoriented from West to East. Coal represents an available, secure and competitive energetic resource which can help the growing need for energy. However it is not that flexible as gas or renewables and it has also a greater impact upon environment due to its greenhouse gas emissions in the context of climate change. For these reasons coal is being less used for the energetic needs of the developed economies. Will the current attributes of coal be sufficient to maintain coal’s place in the world energetic mix?

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