The Clean Coal Misnomer

Surely you've seen those billboards along the road, reading "Clean, Green Coal." Probably you've snickered at them, as have I. But what are they really talking about? I did a little looking and it didn't take long to figure out that "clean" is a relative term when used to refer to coal. It may even refer to the washing process companies have been employing for years and we know current coal power plants are far from clean. But what it more often refers to is several new technologies that are supposed to make coal cleaner. Notice I say 'supposed to' because these technologies are largely unproven and really don't solve the problem anyway.

One such technology is coal-to-liquid gasefication, which can be used to make zero-sulfur 'clean' diesel. This is a fairly common practice in South Africa and was used by Germany during WWII. The first-ever US plant is purported to be up and running by 2009 in NE PA. And it will be able to use waste coal for it's input. (read article at: http://www.governing.com/articles/4coal.htm)

This seems to be a good way of getting rid of the ugly black gob piles that dot the Pennsylvania landscape. Pollutants like mercury are easier to remove from liquefied coal so they aren't released into the environment. It all seems like a great idea.

But what about electricity generation? Isn't that the real problem contributing to the environmental crisis with all the CO2 emissions heating up the atmosphere. Well here again, clean coal can come to the rescue, or can it? The process of burning this fuel for electricity is called integrated gasification combined cycle, or IGCC, and it makes possible the capture of CO2. Again, a good thing. But the problem is what to do with the CO2 once you have it.

Carbon sequestration. An oft-used buzz word in the world of clean coal marketing. But does it really work? Well, frankly, I don't know and neither do the experts. If it works, the problem could potentially be solved. The technology has been used in oil extraction but for different purposes under different circumstances. So the basic way of it is: it might work. Is that really enough to call coal clean? Not in my opinion, but greedy coal companies and politicians don't care about my opinion or yours. They just want to make more money. Coal is abundant and cheap. The rise in oil prices has made these new approaches more feasible. And most people aren't paying enough attention to notice the half-truths.

With the end of peak oil, coal will become more important to the economy. But at what cost? It hardly makes sense to replace one fossil fuel with another. Bottom line is that using coal releases CO2. It can't be avoided and therefore is not a sustainable solution to either our energy or climate problems.