"Unless we deal with coal, we're not going to be able to deal with climate change," says WIRED contributing editor Charles Mann, whose cover story in the magazine's April issue tackles the tricky issue of 'clean coal.'
Clean coal sounds like an oxymoron: coal-fired plants are responsible for over 70% of the world's carbon dioxide, producing 10.4 billion tons per year, according to Mann. Coal also produces the vast majority of black carbon, the second-biggest contributor to climate change.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's proposed CO2 rule for new coal-fired power plants, which was published on Jan. 8 and requires partial carbon capture and storage systems (CCS) on these plants, would actually freeze development of CCS technologies.
“This regulation will essentially stop the development of CCS,” said Alstom official Robert Hilton in March 12 testimony to Congress.
CCS could hike energy cost 80 percent
TESTIFYING BEFORE the House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Feb. 11, a technical expert from the Department of Energy estimated that carbon capture and storage technology could increase the cost of wholesale electricity by 70-80 percent.
This five-part article will outline the primary reasons why CO2 capture and storage (CCS) should form an important part of the global energy mix over the 21st century. In contrast to most advocacy pieces, however, no arguments for technology-forcing policies such as feed-in tariffs or deployment mandates will be presented.
DUKE ENERGY’s 618 MW IGCC plant, the world’s largest, began final testing and commercial operation this summer at Edwardsport, Ind. About 150 Boilermakers from Local 374 (Hammond, Ind.) and other lodges contributed their skills to the $3.5 billion project.
IGCC, or integrated gasification combined cycle, is an advanced technology that converts coal to a synthesis gas and strips out pollutants before it is combusted in a gas turbine. Exhaust heat from the combustion is then used to power steam turbines for additional electricity production.
THE ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT has largely succeeded in vilifying coal usage in America’s power generation systems through their strategic and political alliances, legal challenges and media campaigns. They have a powerful voice and a strong commitment to their cause. Even so, it appears that they have become so consumed with their narrow effort to kill coal in America that they've lost sight of what it will really take to rein in the world’s CO2 emissions.
When a team of Ohio State students worked around the clock for nine days straight recently, they weren't pulling the typical college "all-nighters." Instead, they were reaching a milestone in clean coal technology.
