Is Clean Coal a Possibility or Not?

[Mike 03]

After weeks of trying to figure this out, I confess I'm not sure whether "clean coal" is a reality or a fantasy. I have a list of companies to potentially invest in that may or may not be able to achieve this goal of cleansing the coal process. But I am not confident enough to place money on these bets.

What say you? Is clean coal a possibility or another fantasy?

[GoesTo11]

1. Yes - if sequestration works for real. But it'll be a little more expensive.

Biggest trick: Getting China and India to adopt more expensive technology too.

[Swede]

2. Of course it's possible.

Why wouldn't there be a way to extract energy from coal with a new technology?

[Botany]

3. not possible

just digging it up kills the environment ... acid mine drainage, mountain top removal,
loss of top soil, roads, dust, coal slurry ponds, ......

BTW there is no technology to capture CO 2 from burning coal and inject that
CO 2 into the ground now.

[leftyclimber]

9. For those that don't know, that picture is of acid mine drainage.

Nothing can live in that water. Nothing can drink it. It takes years and thousands upon thousands of dollars to restore it.

[Botany]

10. and once you expose coal to air and water you get "it" A.M.D. ....

.... or Acid Mine Drainage.

FE SO2 + H 20 + 02 = H2 S04

sulfur from coal mixes w/ water and air and becomes sulfuric acid ..........

the orange is "rust" aka iron

[wuushew]

4. No

complete scam.

Cap and trade can't come soon enough.

[blues90]

5. it's a lie and a scam

There is no way to place coal and clean in the same sentence and come up with any truth. No matter how it's dug up or mined it creates toxic waste and no matter how it's burned it creates toxic air and ash. That's like saying burning gas is safe.

[Gregorian]

6. Let's just say that it is. It's still a process that is nonrenewable AND carbon emission intensive.

Why even go there?

They've increased the efficiency of burning the coal. They've improved the particulate capture. But none of that matters.

The bad part of this is, coal is one big fraction of energy production. There appears to be one answer to the situation we're in. And that would be, reversing our energy use. Not something people want to do. Hell, I've got a power pole right outside my door right now. It's dangling by my crane. I'm dying to get it stuck in the ground so I can have power. The alternative is pretty bleak. Party like it's 1799.


Here's the proof

[ashling]

7. Sort of like

immaculate noconception

[spinbaby]

8. We can do it more cleanly than we're doing it now

We're not getting away from coal soon, so we may as well do it as cleanly as possible until we get alternatives online.

[backscatter712]

11. We can make it cleaner...

but we can't make it 100% clean.

Carbon sequestration is pretty much what's going to have to happen to keep coal power plants from putting the planet into greenhouse hell.

That and something's going to have to happen to make mining coal cleaner. Like putting an end to mountaintop removal mining, for instance, and forcing coal mining companies to clean up after themselves...

[X_Digger]

14. Coming from the billion dollar coal fields..

I'd actually almost want to make an exception for mountaintop removal..

google street view of Grundy, Va

This is a shot showing exactly how little flat land there is. Flood plain and what can be carved out of the side of a mountain- that's all there is for housing or economic development. (the house I grew up in is barely visible 90 degrees to the right.

[spanone]

12. coal is another finite resource....we need to move on...it only delays the inevitable

[Richard D]

13. Clean coal for energy production . . .

Maybe. Clean, non-destructive mining? Probably not.