Coal and nuclear power are the backbone of America’s electricity system, providing more than 70% of U.S. power. They’re also both “dangerous and dirty” energy sources for environmentally-minded types, like the L.A. Times edit page. What else do they have in common?
That is, power companies know how to “capture” carbon emissions from coal plants. They also know, more or less, how to store those emissions underground; the oil industry’s been doing something similar for years. The burning question is who will be responsible for making sure those underground deposits of carbon dioxide stay leakproof for centuries to come. From Dow Jones Clean Tech Insight (sub reqd.):
“We think this technology is going to come to fruition, but liability is perhaps the most significant challenge to overcome,” said Michael Catanzaro, the director of federal legislative relations for PPL Corp., an energy company that owns several large coal-fired power plants in Pennsylvania and Montana.
“Without clear rules and guidelines on the question of liability at the state and federal level, the industry would probably be reluctant to deploy this technology,” Catanzaro said.
So far, most of the attention on clean coal has centered on the trying to perfect of all the technology needed to make it click; most scientists and industry insiders figure it will take at least a decade to make clean coal a reality. Another big question is cost: Clean plants cost more—and are less efficient—than regular coal plants, and storing carbon dioxide underground isn’t free.
But now clean coal has another hurdle to overcome. The U.S. government has a program to limit the power industry’s exposure to nuclear liability, even if it hasn’t cracked the long-term storage issue. Will clean coal be next?
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