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Coal — The Other Alt Fuel

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the kinda-like-pork-but-with-less-bacon dept.

This Wired piece is really a round-up about Coal: The Other Alt Fuel. One of the main stories is about an initiative to convert low-grade coal to other uses — like diesel fuel and so forth, but of course that nasty issue of carbon production comes up again.

6 of 135 comments (clear)

  1. The issue is not the pollution by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The issue is whether we can sustain our usage at current levels indefinitely. The answer is of course, no. Can we then sustain current usage until a substitute energy source comes along? Possibly.

    In the meantime, coal will have to do, but we need to keep an eye on the clock because the longer we push off the transition to sustainable fuel sources, the sooner we'll hit the limits of our environment.

  2. As a North Dakotan by alexwcovington · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Clean Coal" is a bunch of BS; the coal industry lobbies as much for relaxed pollution restrictions as they spend time implementing the air-quality mandates -- Even going to the point of flying in entire state legislatures for a meet-and-greet.

    I can appreciate the impact the coal industry can have on areas with depressed economies, but development must be done in an environmentally responsible manner; once the coal's gone, it's gone, but pollution damage can last a long time.

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    (It's never too late to join the Renaissance)
    1. Re:As a North Dakotan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful
      because the entire US could be powered for 100 years just on the coal deposits in Montana.
      Yea, and you'll have to strip mine half the State to do it.
  3. green coal by hamburger+lady · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Venners acknowledges that the gasification process produces four times as much carbon dioxide as simply burning the coal.

    yeah, that's green all right.

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    Is this the MPAA? Is this the RIAA? Is this the DMCA? I thought it was the USA!
    1. Re:green coal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      How exactly is that possible? If that were true, that would mean that when burning coal, for every molecule of carbon dioxide produced, at least 3 more atoms of carbon are not combusted completely. So they are either left behind as unburnt carbon (soot), or partially combusted to carbon monoxide (nasty stuff). I didn't realize that coal-burning was that inefficient. But considering all the other crap burning a certain mass of coal puts into the air, I'd think we'd want to utilize as much of the available carbon as possible.

  4. Nuclear no longer an option by xtal · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Barring serious economic recession (always a possibility), nuclear isn't really an option anymore. It takes awhile to get the plants online, and there would have to be a very large number of them built in a very short period of time. As an engineer, that'd be great news.

    Unfortunately, coal is about the only buffer fuel left that would take us over that hump that depleting oil supplies will leave. The hump gets worse every single day we wait ..

    People should have demanded Manhattan Project style investment into nuclear fusion after the last energy crisis. We'll have another chance soon.

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    ..don't panic