Clean coal reduces plant emissions

Q: What is clean coal or clean-coal technology? Does such a thing exist and why aren't we using it all the time?

A: Environmentalists frequently scoff at the notion of clean coal. While they say there's no such animal, President-elect Barack Obama and lots of others say clean coal does exist, and they are pushing for the United States to invest potentially billions of dollars in electric power plants and potentially motor fuel refineries that produce far less pollution than existing coal-fired generators.

Proponents such as coal producers, big electric utilities and coal states such as West Virginia say clean coal is key to helping America achieve energy independence.

Arguably, clean coal isn't such a new notion. Clean coal supporters are always quick to point out that coal-fired power plants have slashed sulfur, nitrogen and particulate emissions over the years.

Lately the focus has shifted to emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, and clean-coal supporters argue that technology can provide a solution to that problem as well.

Environmentalists say one key to stopping global warming is to quit using coal. That's a tall order for the United States, however, which gets about half its electricity from coal-fired power plants.

Energy companies and energy-producing states argue the country can continue to burn coal by using technology to capture carbon dioxide before it gets loose in the atmosphere, then pump it underground for permanent storage. That's not such a far-fetched notion.

The oil industry has been pumping carbon dioxide into aging wells to increase production for decades and the ability to keep the gas underground is being tested in several large-scale projects.

The other big area of interest for clean coal is the production of motor fuels. That's old technology used by Germany during World War II and South Africa, which turned coal into fuel first during Apartheid.

Several U.S. developers hope to build coal-to-liquids plants. Theoretically, those plants can capture much of the C02 generated in the process before it enters the atmosphere, then store it. One plant proposed for West Virginia is considering mixing wood with coal to further attack the CO2 problem.

The problem with coal-to-liquids plants and so-called clean-coal electric plants has been financing.