Quitting the Coal Addiction

Quitting the Coal Addiction is a matter of health

The “dirty lie” of clean coal technology has been exposed.  A year ago, the coal industry held out hope for its continued run as the leading source of power generation in the U.S.  Today, there are telling (dare I say, hopeful) signs that the country is thinking about quitting the coal addiction.

Like a smoker with lung cancer finally realizes the error of his or her ways, some are finally waking up to the reality of climate change.  Others are responding to pure economics.  With new cap and trade regulations, and the daunting challenge of capturing carbon emissions for new and existing plants, coal will no longer be the abundant, cheap option on which we’ve relied for so many years.

Even with carbon capture techniques that have been discussed in a $40 million “clean coal campaign,” but not yet implemented at a single location, there is no such thing as carbon-free coal.

"Clean coal?"

Not only are we facing declining coal reserves in the near future (given the obvious fact that it is not a renewable resource), but “clean coal technology” is at least 10 years away from potential implementation.  Hmmmm…. wonder what we’ll do with all the CO2 emissions that will be spewing out of coal plants over the next decade?

If we ever do get to the reality of “clean coal” in 2019, why would we invest time and money in a technology that will make coal cost more than renewable energy resources like wind, solar and geothermal?  You heard me right.  To capture and bury all the millions of tons of CO2 emissions will raise the price of coal-based electricity so high that it will not be cost-competitive.

A recent New York Times article revealed the severe limitations of clean coal technology both with respect to carbon capture and cost.  New technology planned to be installed at an American Electric coal plant would use chilled ammonia to trap carbon dioxide from a 150-foot smokestack; the gas would be turned into liquid and injected into the ground.  However:

Of the 8.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emitted annually by the Mountaineer plant, only 100,000 to 300,000 will be removed with the new technology. And American Electric and the maker of the technology, Alstrom, are spending $100 million on the initiative — a daunting expense for some producers.”

Tell me, now, who is “tilting at windmills?”  $100 million to capture a tiny fraction of the CO2 emissions at a single plant?  How many solar panels or wind turbines could be installed instead with this money?

If only there was a little patch we could slap on our energy hungry arms.  We need help quitting the coal addiction.  But we’ll first have to clear away the haze and prioritize our energy investments.  As with any other bad habit…. it took us a while to get here, and we’ll need some time getting out of this mess.