Page - 66 - in Water, Energy, and Environment - A Primer

year, nearly half a billion tons of thisUS-owned fuel are hauled from the region’s vast strip mines and millions of tons are shippedoverseas for other countries to burn.’ Given the legitimate needs on both sides of this conflict I can see only one path to follow to bring the benefits of electricity to as many people as possible while minimizing the risks associated with burning coal. This is to promote the use of energy efficiency technologies wherever feasible, to reduce the demand for coal-based electricity, and to expedite the development and deployment of renewable electric technologies such as solar and wind, and perhaps nuclear, as substitutes for coal. This is already happening to some extent as the world slowly begins to come to grips with the climate changeproblem, but the paceneeds to and canbe accelerated. The ability of renewables to meet most of the world’s electricity needs has been documented in several recent studies, for example, the June 2012 NREL report entitled ‘Renewable Electricity Futures Study’. What is now needed is a commitment on the part of national governments and international institutions to make it happen as quickly as possible. It is a matter not of technology but of political will and financial resources. Admittedly, such a switch from coal and other fossil fuels that also produce CO2when burned, to a renewables-based energy economy, will take time, planning, and money. However, when the full costs of using fossil fuels are taken into consideration, including not just market costs but also health and climate-change-related costs (such as coastline flooding due to rising seas, changes in precipitation patterns that adversely impact water availability and agricultural production, etc.), and international tensions due to competition for fossil fuel resources, then renewables become a much more attractive and even less expensive long-term option. Renewable resources are also insensitive to cost increases once initial capital investments aremade, unlike fossil fuels that rely on a depletable resource that produces uncertain Water,Energy, andEnvironment–APrimer66