Actually the solution is coal gasification. The company is an American company called Hydrocarbon Technologies which is a subsidiary of Headwaters Incorporated. They have made a 2 billion dollar deal with Shenhua Group of China to build a plant. I believe the Shockwave Power technology is very similar to thermo-acoustic stirling engine technology that came out a few years ago (search for "Thunder in a bottle" on google). If President Bush announced this technology is being researched and then had the Secretary of Energy make the rounds on the talk shows, the oil producers would probably up their production to try and undermine it. Either way gas prices come down and our economy picks up. I'm sure methane or the solid methonates at the bottom of the ocean could be used.
It will take centuries to use up coal. Actually I mostly promote nuclear energy but this technology is pretty interesting.
But eventually coal deposits are depleted and the costs of coal and conversion of solid coal to gas and liquids becomes economically nonviable. It all comes down to economics. When the price of hydrocarbon fuels gets high enough substitutes become economically viable. As these substitute technologies get higher than normal rates of return, they receive more investment capital and more research funding. As the researchers and companies follow the learning curve the alternatives become cheaper.