CLEAN COAL

[***super_nova***]

You cannot watch cable news for long without seeing a commercial by the coal industry touting clean coal, but clean coal is nothing more than an advertising slogan. To capture the CO2, and other dirty by products that result from burning coal, can theoretically be done but so far no one has figured out how to safely do it.  Furthermore, the process of burning it cleanly (then storing the CO2) nearly doubles the cost! Not to mention the environmental damage (nothing short of severe) from the mountain top removal to get the coal in the first place.

This cute little slogan sure worked well because I hear candidates from both parties using it frequently as the election approaches.

“Clean coal” is not an actual invention, a physical thing — it is an advertising slogan. Like “fat-free donuts” or “interest-free loans.

http://blogs.agu.org/wildwildscience/2012/10/07/you-do-know-that-there-is-no-such-thing-as-clean-coa...

[lakeland27]

i think the sequestration etc trials funded by the govt have lost funding for lack of any progress. they  told us what the o'seas experience already had. isn't this part of the 'direct action' strategy ?

[newstart2380]

 Clean coal technologyseeks to reduce harsh environmental effects by using multiple technologies to clean coal and contain its emissions.

Coal is a fossil fuel composed primarily of carbons and hydrocarbons. Its ingredients help make plastics, tar and fertilizers. A coal derivative, a solidified carbon called coke, melts iron ore and reduces it to create steel. But most coal -- 92 percent of the U.S. supply -- goes into power production [source: Energy Information Administration]. Electric companies and businesses with power plants burn coal to make the steam that turns turbines and generates electricity.

When coal burns, it releases carbon dioxide and other emissions in flue gas, the billowing clouds you see pouring out of smoke stacks. Some clean coal technologies purify the coal before it burns. One type of coal preparation, coal washing, removes unwanted minerals by mixing crushed coal with a liquid and allowing the impurities to separate and settle.

So can we do without coal, me thinks not until an affordable alternative can be found.

[lakeland27]

thats nice. but clean coal is still as much of a contradiction as a pair of words can be.

[newstart2380]

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@lakeland27 wrote:

thats nice. but clean coal is still as much of a contradiction as a pair of words can be.

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HHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!