Clean Coal Power

[AldPokel]

Many countries are trying to find ways to clean up emissions from coal, among the dirtiest of fossil fuels and a big source of gases blamed for heating the planet, in a race likely to yield billions of dollars for the best technology.

Coal generates 54% of our electricity, and is the single biggest air polluter in the U.S. Although we cannot eliminate coal altogether overnight, building new coal plants is a terrible policy for Americans' health, welfare, and indeed economies.

[Anayamathlors]

But once those crises are dealt with, the energy crisis will be at the forefront for both environmental activists and every citizen who wants electricity and heat. Unfortunately, neither the energy policies of Barack Obama or John McCain are very forward-thinking. Both mentioned “clean coal” again in the last debate, and ads about “clean coal” (put on by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, which is made up of mining and electrical companies) have been airing as well. In the ads, happy families and intelligent scientists inform us that clean coal technology is out there, and we needn’t worry about losing the wonderful energy source that is coal just because it has a bad track record of being a health risk and contributing to global warming.

[Alonsobem]

Of course, there was no time in the debates or the ads to mention that the few “clean coal” technologies out there, such as Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle technology, are only slightly more efficient and still emit enormous amounts of global warming pollution like other coal plants. Right now, there are no commercially available or widely demonstrated technologies, including carbon capture and sequestration that make it technologically possible or financially feasible to burn coal without accelerating global warming.

[aoyoubuquusu]

there is no such thing as "man made global warming"

it simply doesn't exist.