The economic prosperity of the United States has been, and is currently, strongly linked to the abundance and affordability of fossil fuels.
To ensure a future that is both secure and prosperous, we must develop and deploy a mix of technologies to satisfy our growing need for electric power and other forms of energy.
Advanced clean coal technology will be an important part of our future energy portfolio as we transition to a sustainable energy future with zero emissions.
Managing greenhouse-gas emissions is now the biggest challenge for coal.
The National Energy Technology Laboratory, or NETL, has estimated that using currently available technologies to capture and store 90 percent of the carbon dioxide (CO{-2}) produced by pulverized-coal-fired power systems would raise the cost of electricity by over 80 percent. For integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) systems, the cost of electricity would increase by about 35 percent.
Capturing and storing CO{-2} reduces the efficiency of pulverized-coal systems by 30 percent and IGCC systems by 20 percent.
This results in increased needs for coal and for water, a particularly important issue in arid regions.
Clearly, energy technologies that are capable of economically and efficiently capturing and permanently storing CO{-2} are needed.
The path ahead for advanced coal technology, as with most of the other energy systems of the future, presents many challenges before widespread deployment can occur.
Offsetting rising equipment and construction costs fueled by global competition, mitigating the risks associated with first-of-a-kind plants, managing the financial liability that accompanies long-term carbon storage, satisfying society's demands for an ever-cleaner environment, and meeting the rising demand for skilled human resources are some of the key challenges that we must overcome.
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