This 60 Minutes on Clean Coal Technology is the most important piece I have seen recently on coal and climate change.
The Top Ten Takeaways
1. Coal generates about half of the energy in the U.S. and world. It is the dirtiest fuel of all when it comes to carbon dioxide.
2. The primary reason for the U.S.’ dependency on coal is the Powder River Basin, which may be the largest coal reserve on earth. It could supply us for approximately the next 200 years, resulting in a cheap resource found right here at home.
3. Coal is twice as dirty as natural gas.
4. Coal puts more carbon dioxide in the air than all our cars and trucks.
5. The power industry removed all sulfur and nitrous oxides from emissions in the 1990′s ( that cause acid rain). These were mere drops compared to the carbon dioxide. To clean up our carbon emissions we need two things. 1) Federal regulation to limit emissions and 2) a new technology to clean up coal.
6. According to Jim Hanson, NASA’s top climate scientist, we need to phase out emissions from coal in the next 20 years in the hope of preventing climate disasters.
7. Clean Coal Technology is the cleaning up of carbon from coal emissions. This uses a process called Carbon Capture and Sequestration. To implement this across the United States it would cost the U.S. a trillion dollars to preserve the coal industry as it is.
8. Repositories for carbon are not a sure tested method.
9. China and India emit more carbon in the air than we do.
10. China opens coal fired plants at the rate of one per week.
One Comment
My organization has partnered with a plasma gasification (PG) manufacturer, GGI Energy. This technology could be used to leverage the energy in coal without the level of harmful emissions. Plasma gasification is not based on incineration – it disassociates molecules using extremely high heat. This technology is about to make a huge impact on our society, especially waste-to-energy. We are using the PG for The ISC Japan Recovery WTE Program which is about to treat the sewage waste in Tokyo and mitigate the radioactivity in it.
Still have the issue of removing the coal in an Earth-friendly and responsible manner.
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[...] 60 Minutes Video on Clean Coal Technology According to Laura Turner Seydel, a 60 Minutes segment on Clean Coal Technology is the most important piece she has seen recently on coal and climate change. Laura breaks-down her top 10 takeaways in this short but impactful must-read. [...]