frflyer

Smart Grids' Year of Growth

You are right, energy efficiency and conservation have the potential to be major solutions in reducing carbon emissions.
They also give the most bang for the buck. Cogeneration, or combined heat and power (CHP), has huge potential for saving energy.
Don't confuse this with competition for solar and wind. We need them all. It's not an either or situation, we need every tool in the box.
See the articles on "core climate solutions" at Climate Progress to get an idea of what I'm talking about.

climateprogress.org/20.../

Supposed "clean coal" will not be cost competitive with solar and wind. By the time it's developed, solar and wind will be much cheaper. - and there really is no such thing as clean coal.
To develop carbon capture and sequestration for coal on a global scale would entail pumping CO2 into the earth on a scale like we now pump oil out of the earth. And that only captures the CO2, not the mercury, radionuclides, heavy metals, arsenic and other pollutants form coal. Nor does it alleviate the enormous impact from coal mining. The spill of one billion gallons of toxic coal sludge in Tennessee the other day serves as a reminder of how dirty coal is. There was a spill of 300 million gallons in 2000 that extended 75 miles to the Ohio River. For perspective, the Exxon Valdez oil spill was 11 million gallons.