Coal stats

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When the new site goes live, it will have a blog made up of all the green content from here. Where here, green has been one category among many, it will be divided it into green subcategories. One of them is going to be infoporn, a term that I think arose at Fast Company, or Wired; it is a perfect description of one of my itches. And, it's about the most I can say about the rest of this post...

This all comes from an LA Times story yesterday:

Colombia's export of coal will be up 10 percent this year over last, and will have doubled over just the past five years. Its value to the country will top $5 billion, 40 percent more than last year.

China opened more coal plants in 2007 than Britain has opened in its history. Not long ago, China was exporting coal in the same amount that Colombia will export this year; by next year, the US estimates China will be a net importer.

The National Mining Association predicts that the US will get 54 percent of its electricity from coal, up from 48 percent today, by the year 2030 — but fair to say, they're bullish on coal. Nevertheless, they may be right.

But we can assume that they're not figuring in any of the effects of more efficient new buildings, or old buildings made more efficient by green renovation, or increasing popularity for renewable resources, especially wind and solar. In fact, 2030 is the goal set by New Mexico architect Edward Mazria — and signed onto by thousands in the field — for all new buildings to be built carbon neutral. Read more about the Architecture 2030 challenge here.

Where will coal be then?


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