Clean coal, one of those terms we're hearing regarding our energy future, is, sad to say, still an oxymoron. Though a noble goal and, according to an important MIT study, a necessary future, right now it barely exists.

Coal is a fossil fuel, albeit still plentiful, and still really dirty. Burning it in power plants generates a third of the world's CO2 emissions, plus sulfur and nitrogen oxide (acid rain), and mercury (really bad stuff). Mining for it is, and has been, tremendously destructive to surrounding ecosystems, and it's not so great for the workers either, as recent mine disasters reflect. China builds a new coal plant every few days. They have coal and they need the energy now. To imagine the effects of their future emissions is frightening indeed.

Clean coal is technology that captures the plant's emissions and sequesters them, pumping them into underground cavities. This process, called carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), is not commercially available yet, and when it is, will be very expensive to implement. Nevertheless, the MIT study indicates that the technology is viable, that there is adequate underground capacity for the storage of the millions of tons of CO2 produced daily, and that there is no foreseeable danger in doing so. Whether or not you believe them, this partial solution to the problem of coal will not be happening anytime soon.

Related Links

• Minnesota Public Radio story on coal, from September 2008
• Union of Concerned Scientists paper on coal’s environmental impacts
• Washington Post column, “Clean Coal? Don’t Try to Shovel That”
• More EcoFacts columns
• MIT article, “The Future of Coal”

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