Coal comfort

It sounds like something out of a science fiction novel: a giant power station burning the fuels of the past but using the technologies of the future to create clean power. Under this futuristic script, such revolutionary technology could solve the world’s most pressing environmental and health issues by eradicating the air pollutants that long ago branded the coal industry dirty and which today mark it as a major climate change culprit.

The idea is at the centre of an ambitious program kicked off last month by the US Government and the world’s big energy players such as American Electric Power, BHP Billiton and Peabody Energy. They plan to spend close to $US1 billion ($1.3 billion) to build FutureGen, a prototype of the fossil-fuelled power plant they hope will produce electricity and hydrogen with no emissions, including carbon dioxide.

The Sidney Morning Herald