Roanoke Times: Clean Coal is an oxymoron

Clean coal is an oxymoron. No kidding.

A great editorial this morning in Vermont's Roanoke Times on the idea of investing millions in clean coal technology and carbon capture and storage, when more affordable and proven renewable technologies are already further along in development and will be the answer to America's energy woes in the long term.

The editorial rightly concludes that:

And it seems that the heads of at least two major coal-to-electricity companies would agree that CCS is somewhat of stretch.

Jim Rogers, CEO Duke Energy, recently stated that:

Although there is little hope of seeing commercial-scale CCS technology anytime soon, this has not stopped some organizations from selling the idea of "carbon capture-ready" coal plants. In other words, continue to build coal plants today that will someday, 30 or 40 years down the road (if ever), be able to capture all that heat-trapping greenhouse gas.

That's a pretty risky investment based on a lot of hope, especially when there are proven, economically viable renewable energy sources like wind and solar that produce no greenhouse gas. Its kind of like continuing to smoke "cancer free-ready" cigarettes in the hope that 30 or 40 years from now cigarettes will actually be cancer-free.