Is Clean Coal Really Clean?
Monday March 24, 2008
Clean coal supporters, including several members of Congress, claim that clean coal and liquid coal can help to free the United States of its dependence on foreign oil without damaging the environment. Critics, including leading environmental groups, say that so-called clean liquid coal is dirtier than the oil-based fuels it is meant to replace. Add to that the devastating environmental effects of coal mining, which is needed to extract the coal in the first place, and coal just doesn't measure up as a clean energy source. Because coal already provides a huge percentage of the energy and electricity in the United States and many other countries, however, interest in clean coal remains high and finding ways to make coal burn clean is a growing national priority. Get the dirt on clean coal. Photo courtesy of Getty Images
Comments
MORE ACTION, LESS TALK PLEASE.
Please concentrate on more balance and depth and fewer soundbites from polarized groups. Take note of the Norwegian environmental organization, Bellona’s position (web site) that the No. 1 emphasis by advanced nations should be developing technically effective CO2 sequestration. Why? We need it (realistic scenarios for the U.S. accept coal as part of the energy supply). But no matter what the United States does, China and India won’t be denied growth - and coal will be a key energy source for them. Unlike the U.S. that recently (DOE) abandoned its ONLY sequestration project, the Europeans have three CO2 burial operations going, and several major coal-based electricity facilities with CO2 burial scheduled for test operation in the next couple of years.
Sequestration operations are even in progress in China - one sponsored by Shell Oil Co.
So it’s time to stop expending US’s energy and treasure in self-destructive internal warfare, endless talk, and research as an alternative to action.
Language has an ironic side. Something can be “cleaner” without being “clean” in the first place. The point of the article is well taken.
In regards CO2 as a problem: if we can believe the commonly quotd figures on the world’s remaining fossil fuel reserves, some simple arithmetic will show that burning it all, and even without any sort of sequestration, natural or otherwise, the atmpshere’s CO2 level would only rise to about 450ppm from its current 380, corresponding to a rise in temps of only a few tenths of a degree, hardly discernable. CO2 is not the problem.
Acid rain is a problem.
Food production once the fossil fuel runs out is an even bigger problem.
good news but it was hard2 belive it
Clean coal should really be dirty coal. It not only continues polluting our environment but also rips up the land and turns once wild areas into wastelands.
Its not what we should be after. We should convert to clean renewables such as solar, wind, geothermal, water, and hydrogen cars - work on ways to get the infrastructure for fueling stations in place and force nations like china to go green.
Maybe the olympics will be an embarrassment for the chinese government when they show the world how polluted their nation is and the government will crack down and go green finally