Comments on: The clean coal fantasy

By: Nathan Lee » Clean coal a costly snake oil solution

Nathan Lee » Clean coal a costly snake oil solution — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:12:17 +0000

[...] posted before on this fantasy world people are living in assuming we can somehow cheaply and efficiently lock away the output of coal burning. Sounds like I was right according to a Sydney Morning Herald article: “Hefty bill to come [...]

By: Nathan Lee » Ray of sunshine on renewables in Australia

Nathan Lee » Ray of sunshine on renewables in Australia — Tue, 19 May 2009 02:39:49 +0000

[...] solar getting such a chunk of cash, rather than more bleating on about the hopes and dreams of a clean coal fantasy land. I’m hoping we get to a point where we just leave the coal in the ground and it becomes [...]

By: Nathan Lee » Top 4 Clean Coal Spoofs

Nathan Lee » Top 4 Clean Coal Spoofs — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 06:17:06 +0000

[...] I’ve trawled the internet for some amusing ads after my earlier rant about clean coal “The clean coal fantasy“: [...]

By: Nathan

Nathan — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 21:19:54 +0000

Hey don,
hrm.. Sounds like another one of the near endless list of “potential” carbon sequestration ideas that leaves a whole lot unsaid. Although I get the “you get back more energy than you put in” message: that still means it needs energy and infrastructure (kilns etc) to work and energy for heating. And if you do truly get back more energy than you invest: Voila! Perpetual energy device!
Am quite sceptical of these sort of claims. And what’s the emissions of this process by the way? Are we swapping one greenhouse gas for another? e.g. CO2 for Methane (a worse greenhouse gas).

By: Nathan

Nathan — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 21:09:03 +0000

Hi David,
we’ve always got the laws of physics pushing back at any of these “let’s disappear the carbon dioxide” ideas. You simply can’t get something for nothing. Got a gas and a bunch of other useless stuff as a byproduct: great, it’s going to take energy to turn it into something else or capture it or re-process it. So far (as far as I’ve been able to find out) we’ve got zero working power plant sized sequestration installations. Zero. Lots of talked up stuff, but nothing actually working yet. Today I rode past probably 20-30 turbines in spain. The day before: a solar installation. Those two things work, throw some funding their way I reckon.
Nath

By: David Bradley

David Bradley — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 16:35:29 +0000

Thanks for the mention. My article was as skeptical about the whole burying CO2 idea as yours. I think it’s preposterous to think that we can save the planet using any of these methods. They will involve macro engineering on a scale never before seen, will cost billions, may not work, and most importantly will most likely use vast amounts of energy and fossil fuels in their implementation.

By: Don Hennick

Don Hennick — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 02:20:39 +0000

Nathan, since this topic is of interest to you, sequestration, I’ll invite you to google the word biochar, you’ll be amazed.