Doctoral Dissertations

Abstract

"As gas prices soar and energy demand continues to grow amidst increasingly stringent environmental regulations and an assortment of global pressures, implementing alternative energy sources while considering their linked economic, environmental and societal impacts becomes a more pressing matter. The Hydrogen Economy has been proposed as an answer to meeting the increasing energy demand for electric power generation and transportation in an environmentally benign way. Based on current hydrogen technology development, the most practical feedstock to fuel the Hydrogen Economy may prove to be coal via hydrogen production at FutureGen plants. The planned growth of the currently conceived Hydrogen Economy will cause dramatic impacts, some good and some bad, on the economy, the environment, and society, which are interlinked. The goal of this research is to provide tools to inform public policy makers in sorting out policy options related to coal and the Hydrogen Economy. This study examines the impact of a transition to a Hydrogen Economy on the coal industry by creating FutureGen penetration models, forecasting coal MFA's which clearly provide the impact on coal production and associated environmental impacts, and finally formulating a goal programming model that seeks the maximum benefit to society while analyzing the trade-offs between environmental, social, and economical concerns related to coal and the Hydrogen Economy"--Abstract, page iii.

Advisor(s)

Grayson, R. Larry

Committee Member(s)

Worsey, Paul Nicholas
Apel, Derek
Frimpong, Samuel
Enke, David Lee, 1965-

Department(s)

Mining Engineering

Degree Name

Ph. D. in Mining Engineering

Publisher

University of Missouri--Rolla

Publication Date

Fall 2007

Pagination

xii, 151 pages

Note about bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 144-150).

Rights

© 2007 Shannon Perry Lusk, All rights reserved.

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

File Type

text

Language

English

Subject Headings

Coal trade -- Supply and demand -- United States
Energy industries
Energy policy -- Decision making -- United States
Hydrogen as fuel

Thesis Number

T 9327

Print OCLC #

379614359

Electronic OCLC #

276778072

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