Endless Supply of Coal?

PRICE OF COAL
Read this Renewed Energy article reporting on the price and supply of this non-renewable power commodity and its impact on an economy largely dependant on coal fired power stations for power. The environmental impact fact aside, it leaves one with the question of why our government is not urgently phasing it out and actively supporting the aggressive phasing in of renewable energy options offering 'free' 'non-commodity' type fuel supplies [purely for security of supply and future cost reasons].

COAL - MORE OR LESS DEMAND?
There have been two Engineering News articles recently about the demand of coal in SA. It is interesting to note how they contradict each other. One states that Eskom scales back coal demand forecast and then a more recent one states that Eskom sees power demand growth over 9% year on year. Any comments/insight?

WHAT DO MINING [AND OTHER] COMPANIES HAVE TO SAY?
This Engineering News article states: "South Africa's Chamber of Mines (CoM) has recommended a doubling of the amount of money set aside for the reduction of power demand between 2010 and 2013, which it said would help industry adapt to the tight supply/demand balances, while shoring up supply security." CoM said that the amount set aside [in Eskom's tariff application] for Demand Side Management [DSM] was not enough and it also stated that the cost of DSM should be covered by a green levy and not by a tariff increase.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY
In the same Engineering News article, "Efficiency advocate Smart Green Prosperity argued that energy efficiency was by far the cheapest energy source, with Eskom's own application indicating that it would cost R5-billion to save 1 GW, as opposed to the R25-billion needed to build a 1-GW worth of new generation capacity."