It is also interesting that you use the expression "left field" as your source of hope for the future... are you a socialist?
Sorry, that was baiting and unfair... ;-)
Put your money on coal... it'll be a stranded asset according to economists...
its only the coal engineers who are pushing this and their careers are threatened so they must be read ok but with awareness of their bias.
I wouldn't bet on CSG either as it has a very limited future. The big money is on solar tech, not the usual PVAs but solar thermal... this is refining and increasing the output and costs are reducing as the tech further develops. The other big mover is hydrogen. Just look at what Cannon-Brookes is doing. And Sanjeev Gupta using the Swedish tech of hydrogen combustion which will remove coking coal from the steel-making process.
Hydrogen powered generation is reported as the next stage in revolutionising energy production.
