I keep hearing all of this news about new "clean coal technology." It blows by mind. When exactly did coal become clean?
Carbon dioxide emissions from burning coal in power plants account for more than 30% of U.S. CO2 emissions every year. That is more than gasoline and diesel emissions combined. Coal also creates 1.5 times the emissions that natural gas does. Mmm-hmmm...squeaky clean.
It is true that coal power plants can capture and store their CO2 emissions. But U.S. power plants do not do this. As a result, those power plants not only release massive amounts of carbon dioxide, they also spew out other byproducts of the coal-burning process. For example, mercury, which causes hallucinations and birth defects, and fine particulate matter, which contributes to lung disease. As a matter of fact, the pollutants which can be captured and stored will still harm the environment in some way. After all, the trash has to go somewhere. Carbon dioxide is put into its liquid form and injected into empty petroleum reservoirs and coal seam that cannot be mined. This must happen far from any underground water reservoirs to avoid polluting essential drinking water.
Just something to chew on while the next commercial or politician tries to plug that great, innovative "clean coal" energy plan.
I think we have been seeing the same commercials on TV where they show a non existent clean coal plant.. They are pathetically stupid. Why?
Well its new technology. Duh!
We could make the same commercial for electric cars and fuel cell cars.
I don't see very many of these zero emission electric cars or fuel cell cars on the road that the green energy types like to go on and on about. The technology barely exists and can't yet be produced in a cost effective manner. Just like with clean coal, that does not mean that the technology won't someday exist and that someday soon we won't be driving electric cars or cars powered by fuel cells. I look forward to it and will own one IF they are any good.
All those waste products you talk about your right that we would not want to throw them in the water supply. That is obvious.
Have you ever considered how many nasty heavy metals are going to be contained in the batteries of the electric cars that greens are so enthusiastic about? It starts with a huge amount of highly toxic lead and rapidly gets way worse from there with stuff like lithium, cadmium and mercury. How are those going to be disposed of and how is going to be any different from the waste from clean coal? Nasty waste is nasty waste. Maybe they cans use the nasty waste from coal plants to make batteries.
By the way, those batteries in electric cars actually emit lead while they are charging and discharging. In one respect We are going backwards to the days of nasty highly toxic leaded gasoline. Don't let your kids hang out in the garage when the car is plugged in. I bet lead mining is a real environmental joy that makes coal mining look clean.
By the way electric cars need to be plugged in. Electricity comes from somewhere. Your choices are coal, natural gas, nukes, or are practically non-existent, extremely expensive and barely practical renewables.
And fuel cells need hydrogen and the hydrogen needs to come from somewhere. It can be electrocized from water (see the preceeding paragraph about electricity) or it can be stripped off of hydrocarbons like natural gas or much more plentify .....drum roll please ...... coal.
It's true that this technology is new. But electric cars have been around since the 1960's. My uncle has one. Many others have hybrids. Fuel cell cars are still prohibitively costly and fueling stations only exist in California. And, you are right, that hydrogen needs to come from somewhere. But fuel cell cars are still lower in pollution.
Lithium is also in laptop batteries. Don't let your kids get X-rays; they need to block the non-injured parts of their bodies from the radiation with lead aprons. And don't let them become radiologists. Isn't everything, in some way, harmful or a pollutant? We can only search for things that are less dangerous than others and less polluting.
~Violinstef
Well I guess we don't need to worry about the lead in those batteries or the mines that produce it. The good news is that most of that lead mining happens in the third world and nobody cares if their kids end up insane. /sarc
I guess my point is that when you look at the grandscheme of things coal might not be that bad. I personally think that carbon is no big deal (plant food) but assuming it can be sequestered the other pollutants are manageable. We have been scrubbing the worst of these from coal plants for years now.
If yopu really want clean energy then the answer is nukes.