I woke up this morning to read some of the best news for the planet I’ve seen in a long time. On page 1 of the WSJ was an article proclaiming that China’s wild demand for energy has finally spurred a coal-price surge.

(Click here to read the Journal article.)

Finally, the demand for coal is driving up the price. Forever, it seems, China has been a net exporter of coal to the world, and finally their insatiable appetite is making them a net importer. This has triggered a huge rise in the price of coal (see graph above). I think this is actually a good thing that supply and demand is working. I think this is a great thing for the planet because I believe the only way we can beat coal is to make electricity by renewable means that actually beats the price of coal. That’s a VERY tall order, but now is made easier with the price increase. Further, I think the ultimate solution to the energy demand is to make electricity renewably for cheaper than coal, eventually, with NO subsidies. This is only possibly, I believe, if the full externalities of coal usage are priced in. But they are not. Until they are – and I’m not holding my breath until they are, if they even ever are – then the best way to compete is for supply and demand to properly set the price. And this is the first move in a long time that I’ve seen to reflect that, and I think it’s a good thing for long term, albeit painful to energy consumers in the short term.

We are running out of so many things, besides oil and fossil fuels — almost all of our natural resources are up for grabs — and grab at them we are doing, fast!

I read this article in the NY Times yesterday called “Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler.”

It’s a scary article illuminating how our insatiable desires for things we want leads to unchecked excess. Although scary in its own right — just in this case of meat farming — it was more terrifying to me in how it is a metaphor for practically every natural resource we have, and almost identical to the challenge we have around fossil fuels and energy. Of course energy is tied up in almost everything we enjoy as it accounts for practically every single facet of our standard of living.

The article got me thinking about whether we as humans have enough willpower to stop something that is going to lead to crisis in say 10, 20, or 50 years. I think I’m going to take a straw man with the position that the answer is no. Think about it. We barely can keep up our commitment to lose 5 pounds. We can barely do things that will directly, immediately improve our health, for example. It’s hard for us to keep our promises to our loved-ones, today and tomorrow. How can we possibly do something that will affect the planet more than a year, let alone a decade out. I just don’t think we can do it. In fact, maybe there are only two ways we can do it:

1. laws
2. technological breakthroughs

Maybe — but only maybe — if a law is passed, we’ll barely or grudgingly follow it. But why would a leader pass a law that almost nobody would like. I don’t think it can happen, unless that leader is such a leader they can take people where they think they don’t even want to go, but should. We don’t have too many of those anymore

Breakthroughs — maybe, if something is made cheaper, then we’ll follow that, and that will make our new “best interest.” But it can’t just be cheaper because of taxes, it has to be actually better and cheaper. You can’t dissuade people from doing things they want with cash, but you can give them a technological breakthrough that’s better for them and actually change their habits. Many technological breakthroughs also set people back, so it’s not given that all advance is for the good — much of it is not. It’s just that innovation CAN be a solution to challenges like these.

Since I have no skill or desire to make laws, I sit around thinking all the time of how technological innovation can solve big problems. When it can, it’s very exciting. But even when it can, it’s very hard to pull off, because it also takes an economic miracle to make it stick. But for all the difficulty despite the odds of success, it’s amazing what an impact a great breakthrough can have, and thus it’s worth losing sleep over.