like Nuclear,solar,wind.etc
From the 3rd link, below:
“The coal industry uses the term “clean coal” to describe technologies designed “to enhance both the efficiency and the environmental acceptability of coal extraction, preparation, and use”[1], with no specific quantitative limits on any emissions, particularly carbon dioxide.”
I’ve been trying to get a better handle on what is meant by “clean coal.” Terms like “subcritical” and “supercritical” and others are not well explained, and a neutral site that doesn’t bring it’s own baggage is hard to find.
Any source of energy is going to have pros and cons. But at this point, given what is known about coal and global warming, given that other, better options exist, coal for the future should be a very limited option. Nuclear power still has obstacles that are vast — the disposal problem — just recently there was a hearing at San Onofre in California, where they’ve apparently been storing materials on site for decades while a “permanent” storage site is secured — but may have a place in our energy future if some of the issues can be resolved.
Solar and wind are the best underutilized energy sources, and improving their performance and place in the broad picture is a sound plan, whatever else happens.
More research needed on this one before I can give a better answer, sorry, but a few links below that you might find interesting if you slog through the info!
http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/fossi…
file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/… Coal Generation Technologies
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?tit…
http://www.nationalwind.org/pdf/PhadkeFo…
—–
Out of all the fossil fuels coal is the workhorse of global electric power sector and is used to generate more than half of the electricity world consumes.
Coal is also world’s most abundant fossil fuel, with supplies projected to last almost 250 years or more. As coal-fired power plants generally produce the lowest-cost electricity and coal is abundant, most of the country’s economic and energy security depend on the continued use of the fuel.
Coal when burned is the dirtiest of all fossil fuels. A range of technologies are being used and developed to reduce the environmental impact of coal-fired power stations. Thus, clean coal technology (CCT) is the name attributed to coal chemically washed of minerals and impurities, sometimes gasified, burned and the resulting flue gases treated with steam with the purpose of removing sulfur dioxide, and re-burned so as to make the carbon dioxide in the flue gas economically recoverable. In relation to clean coal technology, a terminology ‘carbon capture and storage’ (CCS) is being discussed. CCS is nothing but method of capturing the carbon dioxide, preventing the greenhouse gas entering the atmosphere, and storing it deep underground.
A range of approaches of CCS have been developed and have proved to be technically feasible. They have yet to be made available on a large-scale commercial basis because of the costs involved.
Therefore, clean coal technology is an effort to clean the whole power generation process. At this juncture we can not ignore the importance of coal in the present power scenario, especially, in view of energy security of a country. Exponents of CCT say, this technology would be as good as any other clean technology like nuclear. No emission.
For further information on the subject and other environmental issues please refer my blog: http://www.environmentengineering.blogsp…