Determination of the strong coupling alpha_s from the QCD static energy

We obtain a determination of the strong coupling alpha_s in quantum chromodynamics, by comparing perturbative calculations for the short-distance part of the static energy with lattice computations. Our result reads alpha_s(1.5GeV)=0.326\pm0.019, and when evolved to the scale M_Z (the Z-boson mass) it corresponds to alpha_s(M_Z)=0.1156^{+0.0021}_{-0.0022}.