How to Clean Coal/Homework 2

Coal use has increased every year for the past hundred years and is both a blessing and a curse. It's the cheapest and most available fuel in the U.S., but it's also one of the most environmentally damaging. This article discusses new technologies on the horizon that should improve coal's environmental standing. Most of the United State's coal plants have now reached the end of their life, being about 60-70 years old. The concern is that these plants use pulverized coal technology, which is cheaper, but far more environmentally harmful than newer, more expensive alternatives. In addition, as countries around the world become more wealthy, they too build more coal plants, but most use pulverized coal technology because it's cheaper. This will inevitably have tremendous environmental impacts in the future unless a change is made. One of the new hopeful technologies is called Carbon capture and sequestration. With it, the carbon dioxide created by burning coal is pumped deep into the earth, thus preserving more of the atmosphere. Another new technology is gasifying coal. Using this, coal is heated to about 2,000 degrees and broken down to it's chemical makeup. this allows the plant producing it to sell all kinds of chemical products. Whatever the technology is, the point remains that no single new technology will solve the world's energy problems. We instead must rely on ingenuity both present and future, and on many new innovations that will collectively help to solve our energy problems.

Again, just the IGCC won't be enough to dig us out of our energy crisis. It's certainly promising, and a better alternative to previous coal technology, but until we pass a law stating CO2 as a waste product, nothing will ultimately be solved. We're now inching toward a very big goal that's very soon coming.

Why hadn't scientists in the near past seen this issue coming?

I've done some additional reading about cold fusion as the ultimate solution to our energy crisis. Thoughts on that?

Why haven't more coal plants been updated by this point, after the media storm and strong public opinion for it?