Do you believe in Green Coal?

Combustion is inevitable.

Yes I understand that coal is made of carbon and it is bad in general. However, by saying you don't believe in it I feel it could be wrong. At this point in time we have a lot of people that damage the environment without even realizing it. But because we live in the United States of America and need to proceed with our technology innovative ways, even a small step such as less sulfur in the coal goes a long way. For some people it is practically impossible not to use coal, so if it is just slightly more green it is all the better.

At some point we should all know that the idea of green coal is an oxymoron. Coal is carbon and no matter how we slice it, coal is fossil fuel--i.e., we are taking once sequestered carbon, digging it up and burning it (adding oxygen to it to make carbon dioxide).

Yes it is wonderful that it has less sulfur in it because that lessens the amount SOx in the air--think sulfuric acid. But there is no getting around the fact that what the planet does not need at this point are false solutions to our global warming problem.

Yes, I would prefer green coal to soft, sulfur coal but I'd prefer no coal even better. And the thought of creating systems that pump the pollution from coal fired power plants underground just seems like nonesense and ignores the collateral damage done by coal mines. It is a look like tummy stapling in that it treats the symptom rather than the root cause which is that we use too much energy and we need to go on a carbon diet. We can do much better than this.

Bob Ferris
Executive Director
Yestermorrow Design/Build School