3 ms·
> coal causes horrible pollution Source? There is a lot of FUD about coal, but modern generation facilities ("clean coal") produce little more than water vapor
by drharris 14y ago
> coal causes horrible pollution
Source? There is a lot of FUD about coal, but modern generation facilities ("clean coal") produce little more than water vapor. We have enough coal to power the country for centuries, and modern technology to have clean power generation. The only problem spot is in mining it, and that's a much more trivial problem to solve than issues like fracking, nuclear safety, peak oil, etc.
- Roboprog 14y agoI seem to be missing some terms in the "clean coal" equation: C + O2 --> H2O maybe it's more like: C + O2 --> 2(H2O) + 6n + 4p (but I think this would be endothermic, to the tune of a few million EV here and there) If somebody can supply the missing terms in this "equation", then I learn something. Otherwise, take it as simple sarcasm.
- aphyr 14y agoBegging your pardon, but what are you smoking? SO2 and NOX filtration are great, and significantly reduce emissions (~80% seems to be a common figure cited by FGD and SCR manufacturers), but mercury and radionuclide emissions, especially in fly ash, are still a real thing. It also doesn't address the lifecycle problem: we don't really know whether sequestration will work, and you still have to extract and transport the coal itself. As far as I know the investments in coal-process carbon capture have yet to be seriously implemented, which is probably why coal-fired power plants are still responsible for 20% of US CO2 emissions. :-/