W.Va. in race for clean coal

[davidinalameda]

http://www.heralddispatch.com/2005/January/19/LNspot.htm

A 9,100-foot-deep hole in the ground in Mason County may hold some answers for making coal-powered energy cleaner.

Scientists with the non-profit, Columbus-based research group Battelle drilled the hole in 2003 outside the Mountaineer Power Plant near New Haven to determine whether carbon dioxide emissions from coal power plants can be stored deep underground.

The $5 million study, still under analysis, places West Virginia in the middle of President Bush’s effort to develop a coal-fired power plant that does not release emissions into the air.

[Ian David]

1. Bad bad bad bad bad idea

There is evidence that burning CLEANER coal without also burning LESS COAL will increase global warming faster.

LONDON (Reuters) - Cutting down on fossil fuel pollution could accelerate global warming and help turn parts of Europe into desert by 2100, according to research to be aired on British television on Thursday. "Global Dimming," a BBC Horizon documentary, will describe research suggesting fossil fuel by-products like sulfur dioxide particles reflect the sun's rays...
<snip>

Take away fossil fuel by-products like sulfur dioxide without tackling greenhouse gas emissions, and the extra heat will speed warming, irreversibly melting ice sheets and rendering rain forests unsustainable within decades, Dr Cox said.

"The climate will warm more in the future but the ability of the land to store carbon dioxide will be compromised," he said, adding that warmer soil was less able to hold the greenhouse gas.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=753&e=1&u=/nm/20050113/sc_nm/environment_britain_warming_dc

In other words, there are no easy fixes.

WE NEED TO BURN LESS COAL!

[Kolesar]

2. No, the H-D article is describing "sequestration" methods to capture CO2

This goes beyond scrubber techniques to capture SO2. The coal industry hopes to capture CO2 and somehow stuff it back underground. Thus, it is kept out of the atmosphere. I am skeptical.

excerpt:
Controlling carbon dioxide emissions and finding a way to store the gas has challenged the energy industry and FutureGen researchers, said Christine Risch, director of research for Marshall University’s Center for Business and Economic Research. Carbon dioxide storage, also called sequestration, carries high costs and energy requirements to carry it out, she said.

[spinbaby]

5. We're stuck with it for now

Too many coal-fired power plants in these parts. Until we can find an alternative, clean coal is better than dirty coal. Now if only they were putting this same energy into finding an alternative :-(

[mongo]

6. Yes there are no easy fixes

and there was a push to gas generation because it was supossedly cleaner. Gas is cleaner at the smokestack, but when you add in the leaks in the gas lines and at the well head (which is not monitored by anyone), it becomes a wash.

The only answer is distributed solar power, but the large utility companies can't make money that way, so there is no investment in the technology.

[bleedingheart]

3. Who is the biggest proponent of Clean Coal....??? Anyone know the answer?

[hatrack]

7. The coal companies, of course - along with DOE

Barlett and Steele had a great piece on this in (I think) Time about two years ago. It went into depth about how many millions and millions in tax breaks utilities and energy companies get for "clean coal".

In one case all that was required for millions in taxpayer support was spraying loads of coal with water - that somehow rendered it "clean coal" (though of course the nature of the substance didn't change). These guys do both mountaintop removal mining and loophole mining.

Oh, and I hope the good red-blooded all-American Republican voters in W. Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee enjoy the removal of their remaining mountains and streams in the years ahead so that glossy PR brochures can boast of increased "clean coal" production. :eyes:

[bleedingheart]

8. ding ding ding! we have a winner!

I cringe every time I hear the phrase "clean coal".

[VegasWolf]

4. "Clean coal",. Is that like "compassionate conservative"?n/t