Coal, clean and otherwise

Interesting articles

• India's Coal Tax Would Generate $650 Million Annually for the Clean Energy Fund, 6/27/2010
• What to Do about Coal?, 3/19/2009
• The Dirty Side of Clean Coal, 12/19/2008
• Coal power in a warming world, 10/20/2008

Carbon Capture and Storage

• The Murky Future of King Coal, 11/18/2010
• Can Captured Carbon Save Coal-Fired Power? 6/22/2010
• First Look at Carbon Capture and Storage in a West Virginia Coal-Fired Power Plant, 11/6/2009
• Can Carbon Capture and Storage Save Coal?, 4/6/2009
• Coal-Fired Power Plants Will Need Better Carbon Capture and Storage Technology, 2/19/2009
• Carbon Capture and Storage May Be Key to Climate Bill, 5/18/2008
• Future of "Clean Coal" Power Tied to (Uncertain) Success of Carbon Capture and Storage, 3/14/2007

Coal in the US

• Coal's hidden costs top $345 billion in U.S.: study 2/16/2011
• Instead of building a new zero-emission coal-fired power plant in Illinois, the Obama administration will retrofit an old plant instead, 8/6/2010
• Wyoming Coal Plant Illustrates the Potential and Challenges of Carbon Capture and Storage, 6/1/2010
• EPA Announces Plans to Regulate Coal Ash, 05/04/2010
• Is Coal Ash Hazardous?, 1/13/2010
• Are Endangered Species Being Sacrificed for Coal in Appalachia?, 8/10/2009
• Cleaning up the dirtiest fossil fuel: One company's coal fix, 3/11/2009
• Coal-Fired Power Plants Will Need Better Carbon Capture and Storage Technology, 2/12/2009
• Funny coal propaganda, 12/23/2008

China and Coal

• The Price of Coal in China: Can China Fuel Growth without Warming the World? 12/16/2010
• The Carbon Trap: Can China Survive without Coal?e, 10/26/2010
• Progress on the GreenGen IGCC project, 10/8/2010
• Clean Cities and Dirty Coal Power–China's Energy Paradox, 12/17/2009
• Can Coal and Clean Air Coexist in China?, 10/4/2008

Presentations

• First Presentation
• Second Presentation: Carbon Capture and Storage • Second Presentation: Carbon Capture and Storage (PDF)

Some follow-up questions

1. David Rutledge at Caltech (http://rutledge.caltech.edu/) has looked into Hubbert's Peak, coal, and other questions of resource depletion. What are his main points?
2. How much radioactivity is released to the atmosphere from burning coal? How much mercury? What are the health implications
3. Did the cap-and-trade approach to reduce sulfur emissions lead to more mercury emissions?
4. Carbon capture and sequestration is a fledgling technology. What are credible estimates of the additional cost of coal power if the cost of CCS at the level of 90% or better were mandated? What fraction of U.S. coal plants are located where underground storage of CO₂ is feasible?
5. http://www.newsinenglish.no/2011/01/11/eu-beating-norway-on-carbon-capture/
6. The first U.S. CCS project is operating in West Virginia. Is it effective, or is it a publicity stunt?
7. West Virginia has been a hotbed for mountaintop removal, and the concomitant damage to the environment. Is this technique being used much elsewhere in the United States? How is western coal mined?
8. How thick does a coal seam have to be in order to be considered a viable resource?
9. Washing and burning coal yields a waste stream that includes many hazardous substances. How are these handled? Are their environmental justice issues surrounding the disposal of these wastes? Do companies that produce power from coal bear the true cost of handling these wastes?

Rob Warren's Work

• See the information that Rob Warren gathered last year
• Read Rob's term paper

Original questions and topics

1. coal
2. geothermal
3. power transmission
4. electric vehicles