WSJ: Global surge in use of coal – backhanded admission of oil peak

Front page article “Global Surge in Use of Coal Alters Energy Equation” describes global trends of coal use as a response to tight supplies. Unattractive but probable oil descent scenario for developing world is now also being seriously considered in the US. Buried in the text are indirect references to oil peak:

“We lived in a period of plentiful energy, and now we’re entering a period of tighter supplies. … Coal will fill some of that gap,” says Gerard McCloskey, a coal-industry consultant and editor of a trade newsletter in London.

With the high demand and heftier price, coal-mining companies are ramping up production, even as many oil giants hold back on new drilling.

The article presents the economics of the situation :

It costs $3 to generate a million British thermal units, or BTUs, of power from coal, compared with more than $7 for natural gas and just over $8 for oil, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The environmental costs of coal production, although discussed in the article, are probably externalized in the above calculation.