Authors: M. Berkley, E. Cruz, M. Vatanakul, R. Hynes, A. Stickler
XXIst World Energy Congress, Montreal, Canada, September 2010
Abstract
Current political climates are culminating in the conflict between economic growth/development and environmental regulations – Climate Change. Developed nations have developed with the aid of coal-based power generation and are currently dependent on cheap, abundant power from coal. In today’s global economy, developing nations’ desire to duplicate the same level of development is under global scrutiny as they utilize this historical energy supply pathway. The politico-economic conflict between developing and developed nations may be alleviated by the introduction of innovative technologies simultaneously delivering power and improved environmental considerations. The long-term economic trend has been forever upward and is not expected to cease. Thus, developing nation’s expected to have the highest economic growth rates over the coming decades coincidentally require additional generating capacity, a large portion of which is expected to be coal-based. Targeting expanding and converting existing economies to utilize innovative technologies such as gasification, oxyfuel, supercritical, or solar-hybrid technologies shall be fundamental to addressing the balance between socio-economic and environmental interests.
