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Subject: Clean coal huh?
Posted by: sarge33rd
- [12554167] Wed, Oct 17, 2012, 22:42
Exposing the Myth of Clean Coal Power
The "clean coal" campaign was always more PR than reality — currently there's no economical way to capture and sequester carbon emissions from coal, and many experts doubt there ever will be. But now the idea of clean coal might be truly dead, buried beneath the 1.1 billion gallons of water mixed with toxic coal ash that on Dec. 22 burst through a dike next to the Kingston coal plant in the Tennessee Valley and blanketed several hundred acres of land, destroying nearby houses. The accident — which released 100 times more waste than the Exxon Valdez disaster — has polluted the waterways of Harriman, Tenn., with potentially dangerous levels of toxic metals like arsenic and mercury, and left much of the town uninhabitable. |
| 1 | Frick
ID: 2193319
Thu, Oct 18, 2012, 09:24
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which accounts for about 30% of U.S. carbon emissions
And coal accounts for about 45% of power generation.
Actually, according to Wikipedia and EIA.gov, in 2009 Coal accounted for 450M metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions and natural gas accounted for 400M metric tons. Coal, as mentioned above, accounted for 45% of energy production in 2009, while natural gas accounted for 23.5%.
Potentially toxic ash. Yes, ash has toxic elements in it, in trace amounts. The coal ash from the power plant across the street from my office has two means of disposal for its ash. Some of it is used to make shingles, the rest is used by a local landfill to cover up garbage.
I agree that we need to invest in cleaner technologies, but they are not a reasonable replacement in the near term. And the idea of taxing "dirty" coal to provide subsidies for "clean" natural gas seems to align nicely with the red/blue state lines.
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| 2 | Perm Dude
ID: 3210201915
Thu, Oct 18, 2012, 12:17
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I see no other short-term solution either. I also don't agree with those who simply dismiss all coal-generated uses. This is like saying that all cars pollute, so we shouldn't pursue mileage standards, anti-pollution devises, require gas dispenser caps, etc. to severely limit the environmental effect of cars.
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