No Such Thing as Clean Coal
Sightline Daily pretty much hits the nail on the head, calling out “clean coal” as a mythical creature. The technology to capture and sequester carbon emissions from coal plants is entirely theoretical, and probably won’t be ready for practical application for another twenty years. We need climate change solutions that work now.
What the article doesn’t mention is that the process of extracting coal from the ground will always be incredibly dirty and environmentally unsound. Even if the carbon capture and sequestration tech was ready today, getting the coal from the earth would still require mining operations with devastating environmental impact.
Coal is one of the most abundant natural resources in the United States, and one of the most readily-available fossil fuels in the world. While there’s value in researching cleaner ways to exploit this resource, our focus should be on renewable energy sources that provide a cleaner long-term solution.
(Props: Seed’s Daily Zeitgeist and WorldChanging)
Update: The Reality Coalition TV Spot
12/13/2008 — An organization calling itself The Reality Coalition (a joint project of several environmentalist groups) has started running a sarcastic TV spot that points out the imaginary nature of “clean coal” tech. I caught it today while I was making and eating lunch.
I’m glad to finally see a counter to the coal industry’s disinformation campaign. If you’re interested, the Reality Coalition website has facts and details about coal’s environmental impact.
