Burning coal is the dirtiest, most old-fashioned way to produce electricity in the energy industry today.

However, in the coming years many governments and energy companies are hoping to reinvent coal as a cleaner, more modern form of energy in the coming years, as they try to reconcile energy security with the need to halt climate change.

Xstrata said on Tuesday it had shut down a ferronickel mining and processing operation in the Dominican Republic for at least four months due to soaring energy costs and lower nickel prices.

The Switzerland-based mining group said that its Falconbridge Dominicana (Falcondo) operation, which each year produced 29,000 tonnes or 2 per cent of the world's primary nickel, would be suspended until market conditions improved.

Although carbon-offsetting has gathered momentum as a way for companies to reduce their environmental impact, the best way to cut emissions is still to use less energy. And with oil trading at above $100 a barrel and energy bills continuing to rise, being more efficient makes financial as well as environmental sense. But many companies have yet to change fundamentally the way they operate in order to embrace energy efficiency.