Quote Originally Posted by blobbles View Post
We can run all our electricity needs from renewable resources or renewable resources + nuclear for major economies and a tiny bit of peak load gas generation for when things turn really tough (snow storms etc), with a smart grid and a slight over production of renewable power. Whether we choose to or not is a different story. In NZs case we could do it so easily its barely even worth talking about burning coal as we are almost completely renewable now.
In NZ plenty of coal is still burned for energy. Look at Fonterra and the milk processing plants in the SI. They are not going to stop doing so any time soon either.