Re: Clean Coal

Mark eloquently commented in the misc.writing conveyor belt:

[trimmage]
Then you add on the good stuff, like your microwave, and your
clothes dryer, water heater, electronics....etc. I think we get the
picture, it matches the data of 30lbs of smoking black coal
you burn every day,....extracted out of pristine mountains.

Now that really is the point.

I thank you for taking the time to discuss the topic of the
useage of coal to produce electricity in the 21st century. We
have established the fact that right now, the typical person is
burning approximately 30 or more pounds per day.

There are over 300 million people in the United States alone.
At least 60% of them get their power from coal. Many of the
remainder get their power from some other fossil fuel.

As to the little lonely light bulb, that wasn't my point.

I'm still thinking if something sounds wrong, taking it on
faith is a bad plan. And maybe, just maybe, if it's something that we
don't know the answer to, we should do what reporters are supposed to
do. That would be legitimate fact checking.
There are side effects to burning anything to make power,
whether we are burning a mountain to make electricity or a retired
dinosaur to heat our houses.
I am pleased to report that I have a smaller carbon footprint
than Al Gore despite having houses in both the cold spot of the nation
and the hot spot.
That's not my point, either.
There are several facts that we need remember:
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* People have increased the amount of energy they use to live every
year since the year 1. (In year 0, the energy required was quite high
but I think most of it came with a bang.)

* There are more people this year than last.

* Oil is arguably more important as a base for everything from
medicine to plastics than as a fuel.

* We are running out of oil faster than we are running out of coal.

* We have no coherent energy policy in the U.S. Or elsewhere in the
world.

* If we stop burning coal, we stop making electricity.

* Without electricity, you won't be able to post to this newsgroup.
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We can have no coherent energy policy as long as the players
are political sea anemones waving in whatever current passes them by.
Al Gore says no burning/digging/burying fossils (now _that_ guarantees
job security among the Washington fos^H^H^H Luddites) so they go look
for hydro. Boone Pickens says the world blows so they start climbing
towers. And so on.
There are only two cheaper sources of electrical power than
coal in the United States: hydro and nukes. PETA is afraid of hydro
because it might drown their kittens and everybody here seems to think
"nuclear" is a synonym for "bomb."
I _like_ using electricity for power. We get centralized
generation and a technology we understand. Unfortunately we have just
half the infrastructure we need to transmit that power if we all start
driving electric cars.
I _like_ using electricity for power. In order to get there,
we need a coherent energy policy based on actual science.
Until then, we need to burn coal. FTR, I do applaud affordable
efforts to clean the smokestacks of any manufacturing effort. If that
takes peeps with vacuum cleaners at the coal mountain, so be it. I'll
sell them reindeer insurance.

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