We're addicted to electricity. Don't think so? Try going one day without it. Any. Nada. Bet you can't.

That means coal, which is abundant — American has the largest reserves in the world — and currently cheap to mine, transport and burn, isn't going away.

When you turn on your lights or TV, plug in your cell phone or use your computer, you're burning coal. Coal makes all of these things work. Deal with it.

That's why this deal between Charlotte's own Duke Energy and a Chinese energy company to seek clean coal solutions feels like a step in the right direction.

Both countries are massive consumers of energy, and both rely on coal to provide a large percentage of the energy the market demands. So, if by working together they can figure out a solution, everyone wins.

We only have one atmosphere, after all. We might not share the same land mass with China, but we definitely share the same air.

Duke Energy, America's third-largest electric utility, and China Huaneng Group, China's largest electricity producer, will explore renewable and other clean-energy technologies as part of a memorandum of understanding signed Monday in Beijing.

Under the agreement, the two companies will exchange information and explore potential long-term cooperative initiatives to reduce coal plant emissions and develop other renewable sources of electricity generation. In addition to coal gasification, capturing and sequestering carbon from coal-fired power plants is expected to be a key issue for the Duke-Huaneng collaboration, as these plants account for about half of the world's man-made greenhouse gas emissions.

Both China and the United States use coal to generate most of their electricity and together account for about 40 percent of the world's greenhouse gases.

Read more from United Press International.

Unfortunately, right now, we don't have any real clean coal technology:

Here's a peek at what's happening with the clean coal movement in Indiana: