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News
- -01-11-09 Stimulus Debate on "Clean Coal" (U.S. News)
"Steven Chu, President-elect Barack Obama's pick for energy secretary, met this week with several Illinois lawmakers to hear their pitch for a stimulus-related project: the revival of a $1.9 billion advanced coal plant in Mattoon, Ill. The project had its funding revoked last year by the Bush administration, which at the time cited "restructuring" as the cause. Chu, according to one congressional aide, listened intently during the meeting but made no promises about restoring the project, which is arguably the world's most ambitious 'clean coal' effort, at least in conception." 01-09
- -04-18-08 Carbon Reduction in Coal (Time.com)
"Coal plants usually have a 50-year operational life, which means that fossil fuels will be with us for a long time. Unless we can figure out a way to take carbon out of coal — the way we've managed to clean other pollutants, like acid rain-causing sulfur dioxide, using scrubbers —we'll never beat climate change. Ergo Exergy wants to mitigate the damage. The company's underground coal gasification technology burns coal into gas directly in its underground seams, which saves the environmental cost of mining." 04-08
- -05-10-10 Which Pollutes More: Vehicles or Coal-Fired Power Plants? (UCSUSA.org)
"With this in mind, a passenger car or truck today is typically responsible for around 7.4 tons of CO2 a year. If you compare that to a typical, existing 600 megawatt coal plant, producing 5.2 million tons of CO2 pollution a year, then, in one year, that plant is producing as much global warming pollution as around 700,000 cars." 05-10
- -11-13-08 A Freeze on New U.S. Coal Plants? (Time.com)
"Environmentalists have long known that when it comes to climate change, coal will be a dealbreaker. The carbon-intensive fossil fuel provides nearly half of the United States' electricity, and is responsible for some 30% of the country's greenhouse gas emissions. That's just due to the coal plants already operating — as the U.S. looks to expand its energy supply to meet rising demand in the future, over 100 coal plants are in various stages of development around the country. If those plants are built without the means to capture and sequester underground the carbon they emit — and it's far from clear that such technology will be commercially viable in the near-term — our ambitious goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and avert climate change will be meaningless." 11-08
- -11-13-08 Coal Power Plants May Have to Limit Emissions (USA Today)
"About 100 proposed coal-fired power plants in the USA may be required to limit their greenhouse gas emissions after the Environmental Protection Agency was blocked Thursday from issuing a permit for a proposed Utah plant without addressing the issue of global warming." 11-08
- -12-13-08 First "Clean" Coal Plant? (ABC News)
"Earlier this month, the world's first coal-fired power plant designed to capture and store carbon dioxide that it produces began operations in Spremberg [Germany]. The pilot plant has been built at a power station that, under Communist rule last century, used to belch out clouds of sulfurous smoke from burning brown coal, or lignite. 'Industrial history is being written,' says Tuomo Hatakka, chair of the European board of Vattenfall, the Swedish power company behind the new plant. Indeed, the development of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology is seen by many experts as essential to help the world cut carbon-dioxide emissions in coal-fired power stations." 12-08
- Coal Gasification (PopularMechanics.com)
"Here's how that process, known as the Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC), converts coal into synthetic gas and energy-a 20-percent more efficient makeover of the dirty ore you may soon find only in a naughty kid's stocking:" 04-08
Papers
- -05-22-06 Insufficient Oxygen for Workers in Coal Coal Mines (MSNBC News)
"Autopsy findings indicating that three of five eastern Kentucky coal miners killed in an explosion died of carbon monoxide poisoning infuriated several family members still mourning their deaths." 05-06
- A Billion Gallons of Toxic Sludge from Coal Plant Site (CNN News)
"The sludge, a byproduct of the ash from coal combustion, was contained at a retention site at the Tennessee Valley Authority's power plant in Kingston, about 40 miles east of Knoxville."
"Environmental advocates say the ash contains concentrated levels of mercury and arsenic."
"The plant sits on a tributary of the Tennessee River called the Clinch River. At least 300 acres of land has been coated by the sludge -- a bigger area than the Exxon Valdez oil spill." 12-08
- Bush Administration Backs Off of Clean Coal Project (Christian Science Monitor)
"Prospects for nearly emissions-free coal power in the United States have dimmed in the wake of the US Department of Energy's decision to pull the plug on a 'clean coal' demonstration plant called FutureGen, observers say."
"Under the deal, 13 partners – including China, Australia, Britain, and Germany – would have paid 26 percent of the cost with the DOE paying 74 percent. A key part of FuturGen was the potential environmental impact, some environmentalists say because China's coal-fired power plants are among the largest emitters of greenhouse gases." 02-08
- Capturing Carbon (Time.com)
"Even before the federal government creates a national cap — which is generally considered inevitable — the economy will need a bridge, economic nudges, so that the private sector can test carbon capture and storage before scaling it up. More than 30 states are looking at legislation that would give carbon storage technology a boost. Some call for comprehensive studies of the technology, while in Wyoming — one of several states identified as having underground carbon storage potential — laws are already being written to address questions about ownership of and liability for the underground CO2 vaults. These laws will help U.S. "geo-bottling" incubate while the federal government catches up to state and private efforts. At Duke University's Climate Change Policy Partnership, for example, researchers are modeling optimal routes for gas pipelines, based on engineering, social and environmental factors, to move the CO2 from plant to storage site." 04-08
- Clean Coal Cancelled (Time.com)
" 'The reason why projects like these are fiscally challenged is because the incentives available to them fall short and the rules of the road in terms of emissions standards aren't clear,' Clean Air Task Force Carbon Storage Development Coordinator Kurt Waltzer said." 07-11
- Coal Facts (PBS.org)
Provides basic facts about coal. The United States has 25% of the world's known supply; China and India are the next two largest owners of coal supply. The use of coal is increasing, rapidly, even though it is the largest known cause of CO 2 in the air. 05-09
- Coal Power Plants and Pollution (Sierra Club)
"In the US today, coal is the number one source of electricity produced (54%), followed by nuclear sources (21%), hydropower (16%), natural gas (9%), oil (2%), and other non-renewables (3%)." "Out of the entire electric industry, coal-fired power plants contribute 96% of sulfur dioxide emissions, 93% of nitrogen oxide emissions, 88% of carbon dioxide emissions, and 99% of mercury emissions." 11-02
- Coal Power Usage By State (AmericasPower.org)
Provides a map (at the bottom of the page) for showing which energy sources each state uses. 08-08
- Coal Prices Compared to Natural Gas and Residual Fuel Oil (Energy Information Administration)
"Since 1976, coal has been the least expensive fossil fuel used to generate electricity. During the early 1970s, natural gas was the least expensive fuel used to generate electricity. In 1973 electric utilities paid on the average, about 34 cents per million Btu of natural gas, 41 cents per million Btu of coal, and 80 cents per million Btu of petroleum.1" 08-09
- Cost of Coal by Source (Department of Energy)
Provides weekly summaries on the cost of coal by source. 05-09
- Cost of Coal by State (Department of Energy)
Provides weekly summaries on the cost of coal (delivered) by state in terms of dollars per million BTU. 05-09
- EPA May Move to Regulate Carbon (Time.com)
"On Feb. 17, EPA administrator Lisa Jackson announced that the agency would reconsider a Bush Administration decision not to regulate CO2 emissions from new coal power plants." 03-09
- Efficient Carbon Sequestration at Existing Coal Plants (American Electric Power)
"American Electric Power (NYSE:AEP) will install carbon capture on two coal-fired power plants, the first commercial use of technologies to significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions from existing plants."
"In laboratory testing sponsored by Alstom, EPRI and others, the process has demonstrated the potential to capture more than 90 percent of CO2 at a cost that is far less expensive than other carbon capture technologies. It is applicable for use on new power plants as well as for the retrofit of existing coal-fired power plants."
"The system chills the flue gas, recovering large quantities of water for recycle, and then utilizes a CO2 absorber in a similar way to absorbers used in systems that reduce sulfur dioxide emissions. The remaining low concentration of ammonia in the clean flue gas is captured by cold-water wash and returned to the absorber. The CO2 is compressed for enhanced oil recovery or storage."
"The captured CO2 will be designated for geological storage in deep saline aquifers at the site." 03-07
- New Chinese Coal Plants Will Make Climate Change Almost Certain (BBC News)
"Coal built China - and fuels its relentless growth today. Eighty per cent of China's electricity comes from coal, and there are plans for 544 new coal-fired power stations to meet an insatiable demand for energy."
"Yet coal is a prime source of carbon dioxide - the global warming gas. If the power plants go ahead, it will be all but impossible to avoid dangerous climate change." 05-06
- New Coal Plants Will Swamp Kyoto Benefits (Christian Science Monitor)
"New greenhouse-gas emissions from China, India, and the US will swamp cuts from the Kyoto treaty." 05-06
- New Rule Freezes Out Coal Plants (Time.com)
"Dirty, cheap coal provides 49% of the electricity in the U.S. and 30% of the country's carbon emissions — which means that if the more than 100 new coal plants currently in the development pipeline get built, the planet is doomed to get warmer. That's what made a decision on Nov. 13 by an obscure appeals board at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) so important. Responding to a lawsuit filed by the Sierra Club over a new coal plant being built in Utah, the board ruled that the EPA had no grounds to refuse to regulate the CO2 emitted by new coal plants. Immediately, that made it virtually impossible for the EPA to certify any new coal plant, freezing development. In the long term, it gives the incoming Obama Administration an opening to force the coal industry to clean up — or shut down." 02-09
- TVA Ordered to Clean Up Coal-Fired Plants (CNN News)
"A federal judge has ordered the Tennessee Valley Authority to clean up four coal-fired plants that he said were engulfing parts of North Carolina with air pollution -- emissions that fouled the region's health, economy and natural resources." 01-09
- The Coal Dilemma (CET.com)
"Rogers is the CEO of Duke Energy, the nation's third largest electric utility. His stacks pump 100 million tons of carbon dioxide every year, which makes what comes out of Rogers' mouth so surprising."
" 'Controlling carbon emissions in the near future is inevitable in your view. This is going to happen,' Pelley remarked."
" 'It's inevitable in my judgment,' Rogers agreed." 05-09
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