In the USA we have an abundant supply of coal. Coal was generated over long periods of time from the breakdown of plant matter. It is a black sedimentary rock that contains carbon, hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, nitrogen among other minerals. It has been used as a fuel for hundreds of years as it is a slow burning but dirty fuel. Today about 44% of the US’s electric comes from coal.
There are a few advantages to coal. These are: in the USA we have a lot of it, a lot of technology to mine it and a lot of technology to burn it. Some also say it is cheap. The disadvantage: we have ruined many ecosystems and removed many mountain tops to get it; many people have died mining it; burning it releases tons of emissions that have been linked to Climate Change, respiratory problems, cancer and many other diseases. So though some say it is a cheap fuel it is only because the disadvantages do not have a price tag in our current market. If we could put a price tag on these disadvantages we would find that coal is very expensive.
OK we do have the infrastructure to mine, transport and burn coal so naturally there has been funds directed to understanding if there are ways of making coal clean and to compete with low emission energy such as solar and wind. There are two developments in the US.
1 The EPA has begun reducing the emission allowed in the coal burning power plants. This is forcing older dirtier plants to close and newer ones to invest in new technology to remove more toxins from the emissions of the plant.
2. Clean Coal: several new technologies that are designed to remove much of the carbon out of the coal or the emissions and turn it into a product that can be placed into locations other than the air. This is done by scrubbing the coal or the emissions or through gasifying the coal and removing it in the process among other processes.
Clean Coal sounds like a good idea. What are the issues with it then? It is a new technology that can be very costly and some are not very effective. Once the carbon is separated from the coal, the issue becomes what to do with it. This is the same issue we face with manure ponds, coal ash ponds, natural gas fracking waste water, consumer waste and nuclear toxic waste. Much of this can be cleaned, recycled and put back into the environment but that is expensive. So the option has been to inject or bury it into other locations. In the case of Clean Coal the carbon is then being injected into salt mines or old gas drilling mines or even into the ocean. My issue with this is we need studies to show what the impact is to the environment when this is done. I do not agree with injecting it into the deep ocean as, the ocean, is suffering so much today with all the other toxic materials in it and the whole planet’s ecosystem is dependent on it. When the carbon is injected into the land and old mines I am concerned that there may be issues as we have seen with industrial fracking and geothermal.
In my opinion the US’s energy is better spent on technologies to improve energy conservation in home and industry and in the grid. As well as invest in improving renewable technologies. After all “We have not inherited this earth from our parents to do with it what we will. We have borrowed it from our children and we must be careful to use it in their interests as well as our own” Moses Henry Cass
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