Clean Coal?

Years ago, I lived with my parents in Northwestern Pennsylvania. Winters here were cold to brutal. Our house was poorly insulated and had a coal burning furnace for heat. I distinctly remember how the snow surrounding our home was dirty from coal soot and ash. Even as a child, I thought of coal as a dirty fuel. My parents eventually replaced the coal furnace with an oil burning one while I was in elementary school. Chiefly this was done to eliminate the chore of firing the coal furnace in the middle of the night, rather than to reduce pollution. Currently, there are approximately 17,000 factories, refineries and power plants that burn coal to produce products or generate electricity. To see how a coal burning power plant affects the air you breathe and contributes to greenhouse gasses, air pollution, and global warming click here.
Recently, I heard about a newly rekindled technology called coal gasification. This is a process that has been on the back burner for many years because natural gas and petroleum products were considered less costly. With the cost of crude oil skyrocketing, coal is getting a second look. Coal is the cheapest and most abundant fossil fuel found in the United States. It is also the largest polluter when burned to produce electrical power. Coal gasification doesn’t incinerate the coal like conventional combustion type power plants do. “A gasifier converts hydrocarbon feedstock into gaseous components by applying heat under pressure in the presence of steam” (Anonymous, 2006).This technology doesn’t eliminate all pollutants derived from using coal, but it significantly reduces them to levels which are more environmentally friendly and meet the Clean Air Act requirements.
I never thought I would be a staunch promoter of coal, but I now believe in its virtues.

References

Anonymous, (2006, June 27). How coal gasification power plants work. Retrieved November 28, 2006, from US Department of Energy Web site: