Dec 10, 2008 4:25 pm US/Eastern
EnergyWatch: What Is Clean Coal?
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ―
The coal burned to create electricity is one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gases and global warming. You might have heard about "clean coal." As CBS 3's Liz Keptner reports, it's easier said than done.
Prof. Hugo Caram thinks the tubes in his lab hold part of a solution to global warming. His lab at Lehigh University burns coal and filters out a major greenhouse gas-- carbon dioxide.
Eventually, these tubes would send carbon dioxide underground, keeping it out of the atmosphere. It's called "carbon capture."
It works in a lab. The real world is much more expensive.
"The cost per plant is going to be about a billion dollars," said Prof. Caram.
That's why environmentalists say, it's just not feasible.
"Clean coal is an oxymoron," said Nathan Willcox of PennEnvironment.
Willcox says, we must break our dependence on coal. "We need to be doing far more, getting more of our electricity from clean renewable sources, cutting our overall energy use for energy efficiency, and then if carbon capture and sequestration does work out, it can play some role in the solution," said Willcox.
In a new TV ad, an announcer in an empty field shouts, "Machinery's kinda loud, but that's the sound of clean coal technology!"
If that sounded sarcastic, that's because it is. The environmental groups behind this TV ad say, "In reality, there's no such thing as clean coal."
Prof. Caram agrees it's difficult. "I understand some of the environmentalists' concerns about thes kinds of things," said Caram, "but I think we're making enough progress that it eventually will be deployed."
Prof. Caram says, true clean coal will require as much money and engineering as the interstate highway system did -- a high price for electricity.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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