Re: Coal Energy
We will probably have to use coal to run power plants because coal is plentiful and cheap, but Big Coal must be put on notice; do it cleanly and capture all emissions!
It can be done for a reasonable price, it should be done for our health and for the environment, and we must insist that it be done. Remember though, Big Coal spends a lot on propaganda advertising and a lot on the political process, but we the people can reign them in through the political process!
It's more expensive to retrofit an existing coal power plant than it would be to build a modern IGCC (gasification) coal power plant that is ready for emissions and CO2 capture.
The ten-year-old 250MW Polk power plant near Tampa, Florida is a proven ICGE design and captures all fly ash, 98% of sulphur emissions, and nearly all it's nitrogen oxides. It does not capture any of its CO2 or mercury emissions because there is no requirement to do so but could easily be retrofitted with equipment to capture both.
I found this an interesting quote from a coal article: "...coal is as filthy as it is cheap and abundant. When burned, it releases three pounds of sulphur dioxide and four pounds of nitrogen oxide for every megawatt-hour of operation. The nation's (U.S.) plants produce a total of about 48 tons of mercury annually."
Interestingly enough, the article stated that it would also be relatively easy to capture the mercury emissions too; there is simply no requirement to do so.
Despite that, I think we must look at using clean coal technology to provide the base of our power supply pyramid. If the coal industry is to be believed, coal is very abundant and cheap. It may not be so cheap if we also implement rigorous mining safety and environmental standards.
To mine and use it cleanly, to capture the CO2 and other emissions, and to sequester them is a challenge and will make our electricity cost a bit more, but it will still be more affordable than most other power sources. However, it is imperative that we reduce the climate change effects we are now causing. Big Coal is going to fight us every step of the way on this.
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