I believe that coal power is the worst energy source because of its emmisions. Coal power accounts for a large portion of the United States energy production. The Unite States has 25% of the worlds coal reserves. Because the United States has such a large amount of coal it is used quite quickly and easily.
The United States Department of Energy acknowledges that a significant amount of CO2 is released into the atmosphere from coal power plants. It is also important to note that coal releases large amounts of mercury into the atmosphere. Coal power plants also release radioactive fly ash into the environment. With all of the byproducts created by conventional coal plants something must be done.
Both candidates are interested in reducing emissions from coal plants. McCain wants to spend two billion dollars annually on clean burning coal methods. Obama is slightly more vague and wishes to create four prototype clean coal plants and further research coal technologies. America is sitting on a large amount of energy that is slowly hurting us, and we should be working to harness both its energy and environmental potentials.
About Me
- Volt-Air
- I am a student at a major research facility on the Eastern seaboard of the United States. I have lived in the North and I now currently reside in the Southeast
3 comments:
This may seem like a dumb or vague question but...What exactly are coal plants used for anyway? Is there an alternative solution that has the same effect as burning coals? Or are we simply just trying to make burning coals more environmental friendly without actually finding an alternative? Just curious...
question... How exactly is clean coal technology going to work? I mean obviously it will make emissions from coal cleaner but how are they going to do that. If you could provide some information on the technology of clean coal that would be awesome.
Coal plants burn coal and use the heat from the coal to make electricity. Coal provides 22% of the energy for the United States. Any other power producing medium (such as nuclear, solar, natural gas, etc...) are alternative to coal power. We actually are trying to find different ways to make burning coal environmentally friendly and some ways are currently being used. One possible method is using gas scrubbers which remove 90% of sulfur emissions from the air. Another method is called coal gasification. In coal gasification the coal is converted into natural gas which burns much cleaner than coal. We have the technology for much cleaner coal usage, but the problem stems from how much of it is being put into place.
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