A new ad being run by a coalition of environmental groups is pointing out the dirty truth of clean coal...it doesn't exist.
The coal industry's exciting advertisements (see below) that claim that we've made coal into a clean source of power have gone unquestioned (except by folks like me) until now. The coal industry ad below actually showed a 3D rendering of a zero-emissions coal plant that had already been scrapped because of skyrocketing costs. Frankly, it's about time we called them out.
Of course, it's sparked off a gigantic controversy in which the coal industry is pretending like somehow they're the underdog, going up against these megalithic environmental groups. Who do you think has more money, organizations funded out of charity, or companies funded by creating half of the electricity in America. Hmmmm.
A representative of the coal industry started swinging blindly at the ad, attempting to hit every base in the aresenal agains the environment. In this article at the Charleston Daily Mail, he says that these insane liberals are just looking down their noses at the south, points out that they all ride in private jets all the time anyway, wonders whether we want America powered by Saudi oil, blames environmentalists for the deterioration of the economy, calls global warming a myth, and then caps it all off by saying that he's not at all upset about it, "Would we be upset if Osama Bin Laden was critical of us?"
Good lord!
The truest thing he says is that we're criticizing them without providing any alternatives. And, frankly, there aren't any alternatives today that can eliminate our dependence on coal. But that doesn't change the fact that the coal industry is calling itself clean while all of their proposed technologies are farther from reality than renewables like solar or wind.
There are several gigawatts of solar and wind online throughout the world. There are zero gigawatts of clean coal online. It's not clean...and while I support any efforts to make it clean, whether it's using the carbon to create useful materials, burying it underground, or using algae to turn it into biofuel, they're going to have to actually demonstrate the technology before they start pretending like coal is clean.
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written by jrm, December 09, 2008
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written by esod, December 09, 2008
That is to say, by neglecting all the problems of storage, power reserves for high demand and the like. Every single watt I use is generated in Norway, by a water power facility. That of course does not mean, that what I get delivered is not the same mixture of nuclear, coal and renewable energy that everyone else gets, but I am adding to the percentage of clean power in the mix.
Like adding a clean rivulet to a mostly dirty lake...
Power companies don't like that. They're aggressively marketing their power-generation as environmentally friendly. Only thing I can do is tell people how easy it is to make a difference...
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written by Mitchell Sink, December 09, 2008
The truest thing he says is that we're criticizing them without providing any alternatives. And, frankly, there aren't any alternatives today that can eliminate our dependence on coal.
Excuse me but that is incorrect. Wind or Solar Thermal could do it. Wind and Solar Thermal would be better.
There was recently a study that distributed over an area 30% of the wind energy could be used for baseline power. So to get all of our electricity from wind we need to build about 3x the capacity compared to our baseline needs. 3x is very expensive compared to coal but its not expensive at all compared to making coal as clean as possible.
A pretty small area (about 10% Of the Nevada deserts) could affordably supply all of our needs 24 hours per day (heat is cheap to store). The only time this starts to get expensive is during cloudy periods of more than 24 hours. Cloudy periods are exactly when wind energy is very good so the combination would work pretty well.
If we started rolling wind and solar thermal out very aggressively their prices would drop considerably. Of course we should also continue to develop Geothermal, Wave and Tide energies.
The issue isn't that the technology doesn't exist. Its the wisdom and will to use it.
Best Wishes,
Mitch
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written by Barry, December 10, 2008
Plus, with gasification CO2 can easily be captured with existing technologies.
The problem is not that the technology doesn't exist. The problem is America's lack of willingness to open up their minds, give up their pet causes and get serious about real change. Change that will only come about by a balanced approach including new alternatives (clean coal, etc...) and traditional alternatives (wind, solar, etc...)
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written by alan, December 10, 2008
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written by Jay Tee, December 10, 2008
The demonization of the coal industry is beginning to become dogma at this point... which doesn't help matters at all.
SOFC, gasification, etc., those technologies are real, but not ready for prime time. Sorry to dissappoint, but we can't get it done by tomorrow.
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written by Piers Headley, December 10, 2008
Anyone working on the sparkler aspect?!
PIERS
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written by Mr. Lee, December 10, 2008
http://tinyurl.com/6corjn
basic facts.
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written by Habitoid, December 11, 2008
The hatred for coal is ideology driven and bears no relationship to the current state of the art.
Coal is the future of mankind. Without coal we won't exist. We should all thank GOD that he invented coal for us to use.
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written by Brian, December 19, 2008
And in a minor correction, the coal rep said liberals look down their noses at West Virgina, not at the South in general. I doubt if the South has much coal outside of WV.
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written by PeterSon_12k, December 24, 2008
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