The coal industry plans to spend $40 million this year trying to convince you that coal is good for the country. One thing they’ll tell you is that coal is clean. But we said it before, and we’ll say it now: There is no such thing as “clean” coal. Annual carbon pollution from a single coal plant is equal to the annual emissions from more than 650,000 cars.
Each year almost 12,000 people are hospitalized because of pollution from coal plants. If pollution from coal plants remains unchecked it could add an astonishing $100 billion to our annual healthcare bill. Does this sound clean to you?
Susan Elizabeth Bell
May 23rd
Of course there is no such thing as clean coal. Coal is the dirtiest fuel available. With the money invested in new coal plants we could easily plant more wind farms. I know a lot of empty space in Eastern Colorado that can be used for wind farms. It would clear up that brown cloud over Denver (and my asthma)
Danish Khan
May 24th
Funny.. but true. @Susan the wind parks are really good alternative. Studies have forcasted that by 2015 the energy production from wind sector would be cheaper than from coal.
Tony Lee
May 25th
Wind turbines only work when the wind blows. UK experience is that on average wind turbines only output 17% of their rated value, which means if you want to replace a 2,000 Megawatt coal fired station you will need a 12,000 Megawatt wind farm, and for reliable power it will still have to be backed up by a conventional power station for those times when the wind is not blowing!
Jan Moore
May 27th
As reported by the the IEA carbon emissions were their highest in 2011 and 45% of it was due to burning coal, particularly in China. And yet, “Clean coal” is part of the Obama administraion’s “all of the above” energy policy.
Chris.
January 15th
A lot of money and research is pumped into using and exploiting non renewable resources. Think what could be done if that effort was put toward renewable, abundant energy like wind and solar. The technologies we have to capture wind and solar today are fledgling. They are inefficient and often laughable. Why? Because when you have people who are in business to make money from selling people energy, free energy doesn’t make any sense at all.