Economic Analysis Of Coal Supply

Coal, the nation's most abundant fossil fuel and the only one that is exported, represents one of our most valuable natural resources. This study undertakes a thorough review of the economics of the Appalachian coal industry. It establishes, first of all, the international framework within which the American and the Appalachian coal industry function. It next examines the underlying principles that govern the production of and the demand for coal. This demand is influenced not only by price but also by world politics, the economic well-being of dozens of countries, government regulation, and the availability of fuel substitutes. Included are a comprehensive treatment of the regulation of the industry, the effects of coal utilization on air quality, land reclamation, safety, transport, and legislation pertaining to port use. In conclusion, Harvey looks at the prospects for Appalachian coal, considering the impact of technologies such as fluidized bed combustion and coal-water slurry and the issue of energy policy and fuel alternatives. The picture that emerges is not unexpected—an industry whose recovery and enduring health depend on resurgence of world and domestic economic activity, social and political stability, and government regulation.

This book analyzes the international seaborne steam coal trade and investigates resource economics and market structures of the global coal market. It develops a model to analyze pricing structures which are based on the cost minimization principle.

This book is the 2nd edition of the Economics of the International Coal Trade. Coal is the single most important source of power on our planet and today accounts for 40% of electricity generation and 30% of primary energy. The world’s appetite for energy is still far from being met. Until 2050, an additional 6+ billion people will require accessto proper power. “Why Coal Continues to Power the World” introduces the reader to the global coal business; its importance; its source; its global demand, supply and trade; its use; its environmental impact; and its future. Despite recent price hikes, coal does not appear to be a popular subject today, which may explain the little attention it receives in the scientific community. Since writing the first edition during the commodity super cycle in 2006–2008, the world has changed. How has this impacted the global world of coal? This book is useful to energy economists, businessmen, politicians, university professors, high school teachers, students and anyone with an interest in how the world is powered. It is also helpful to anyone studying climate change and global warming. This new edition of the book includes previously not covered special sections on:* Coal analysis and sampling with a special section on moisture * A technical summary of all key coking coal characteristics in Appendix 2 * Coking coal, iron ore and the steel industry * Cement and petcoke markets * Global gas markets and the shale gas revolution in the US * Nuclear energy and the history of the oil market * Renewable energy and the German „Energiewende“ * Power plant technology and CO2 sequestration and processing * The role of CO2 and why man-made CO2 does not cause global warming Apart from giving an in-depth overview of the global coal business, in this book the author argues that coal is far from “dead”. Some of my key messages are contrary to popular beliefs: The importance of coal will further increase in absolute and likely even in relative terms for decades to come. Man-made CO2 has no effect on global temperatures and combustion of fossil fuels does not influence the weather. We cannot stop the advance of coal, we can only make this process as environmentally sustainable as humanly possible. Therefore, mankind needs to embrace coal as the “bridge” from the Oil Age to the Solar Age (through the “New Energy Revolution”). (4) Industrialized nations have to invest in coal and in all means to more efficiently burn coal in order to truly help the global environment and reduce global dust, SOX, and NOX emissions.

The increased use of coal as an energy source in the United States has risen to a high priority on the national agenda. Coal is the only such source that is readily and abundantly available for supplanting expensive and uncertain imported oil for industrial and utility use. It is the power base on which the synthetic-fuel industry is to be built. And it is seen as a backstop for the faltering nuclear power industry, which is facing a slowdown in new plant construction if not an outright moratorium. The U.S. Coal Industryinvestigates a wide range of economic and policy alternatives by developing and utilizing several linked models that are sufficiently general to deal with policy proposals that may be seen as viable at some future date as well as those now being debated, and sufficiently specific to provide quantitative forecasts of the economic consequences of changes in key variables. These models focus on the broad trade-offs that the United States must make in developing a comprehensive coal-use strategy. Among the relevant trade-offs are environmental regulation versus oil imports, sulfur pollution from Appalachian coal versus strip mining for low-sulfur Western coal, and the hazards of coal mining versus those of nuclear power plants. The introductory chapter reviews the current coal environment, the current state of regulation, and related issues (such as the rent, tax, and railroad situations that can limit or encourage coal production). Subsequent chapters discuss the models used in the analysis (the coal supply model, the demand model, and the link between them, along with a consideration of regional transportation rates), the basic forces in the industry (the drive to western and midwestern coal and the decline of Appalachia, the effects of sulfur pollution regulation, changing relative factor prices, supply and demand developments, user costs, and policy responses), the economics of environmental trade-offs (including their impact on the cost of electricity to consumers), and the coal industry in the absence of a nuclear alternative (the electric utility model as a predictor of nuclear power generation, the effects of a nuclear moratorium, and the interaction of coal and nuclear policy). A final chapter presents a summary and conclusions, encompassing supply side influences, demand side effects, and the impacts of coal policies on oil imports.