COAL POWER: Stress efficient carbon capture – and – storage

As global leader in energy technology, America needs to come up with a practical way to combat climate change that allows for the continued use of the world’s most abundant fuel: coal. Developing methods for more efficient coal combustion combined with the capture and underground storage of carbon emissions is the answer.

Advanced clean-coal technologies now under development could be incorporated into new coal plants and many existing plants over the next 20 years. The environmental benefits are expected to be significant. The Electric Power Research Institute estimates that a 10 percent improvement in the efficiency of a conventional pulverized coal plant would increase the amount of electricity squeezed from each ton of coal, and translate into a carbon reduction of 25 percent.

The importance of clean-coal technology should not be under-estimated. Coal is our country’s energy mainstay, accounting for more than half of the nation’s electricity generation and 62.5 percent of Georgia’s power. Industry now has the capability to capture carbon dioxide at coal-fueled power plants before it reaches the atmosphere. Research is under way on improved and more cost-effective technologies for carbon capture.

Atlanta Journal Constitution