Why can't some coal use in the medium term be part of the accepted mixture of energy technologies used to provide power? Undeniably, the use of coal as an energy fuel (perhaps a pregnancy aid too) has been key to the industrialisation of the world in which we live. We won't simply stop mining it overnight, nor because most people accept that we have to wean ourselves off of fossil fuels altogether.
I'm not keen on sequestration (Carbon Capture and Storage) as a justification for continuing to invest in dirty technology though. Not because I share the fears of some about catastrpohic ruptures of geological voids - which would instantaneously release large volumes of gas into the atmosphere. I work in low energy building design and have a very broad view of the range of technologies we can access for heat, cooling and power. Coal does not feature in our thinking, except that its decline will be guided by the cost of investing in dinosaur technology or any other energy system.
We should all work towards an energy infrastructure where the skills of miners and steel manufacturing and fabrication are applied in producing non-fossil turbines, engine technologies and renewable energy systems - not lost!
MM
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