Renewable fuels to see boom, but coal still needed -rpt

Deutsche Bank analyst Mark Lewis told ABC TV the coal industry still has a future, despite a global push towards other cleaner energy.

"There is no way in which the world can generate the energy it needs realistically over the next 50 or even 100 years without coal still being a significant part of the mix," Lewis said.

But he said the emphasis in future would be on moving to clean coal with carbon capture and storage.

Lewis said that in developing countries, where energy generation systems are at an earlier stage, it might be a slightly different story.

"I think it's the end in the developed world and ultimately it will be even in countries like China and India that are rapidly developing," he said.

"It's the end of old conventional coal where people simply didn't bother about how much carbon dioxide was coming out."

For other more greener fuels, the future is looking positive.

"There's certainly going to be a long and probably permanent boom in renewable energy, certainly for the next 40 or 50 years," Lewis said.