A public-private partnership including a research center at Virginia Tech
University and a geological firm are literally digging into
the issue of storing carbon emissions from coal-based electricity.
The Virginia carbon sequestration project will inject carbon dioxide
(CO2) into 300 million-year old rock strata, which will permanently hold the
CO2 and keep it from entering the atmosphere. What’s more, the entrapment of
CO2 in the rock strata is believed to aid in the release of natural gas trapped
in coal seams—another domestic energy source.
deposits that were deposited 260-340 million years ago, the CO2 will stay there
permanently,” said Marshall Miller, CEO of Marshall Miller and Associates, the
geological firm participating in the joint venture. “The good situation is that
out from the coal seam comes a gas, CH4, (methane) that gives you additional
fuel.”
2009 looks like it will be an exciting
year for science, technology and innovation in the U.S.
Check
out the clean coal
technology map to learn about the clean coal projects happening near
you.
The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) is committed to the idea that America can have the affordable, reliable electricity we need, with the clean environment we want. ACCCE’s Behind the Plug blog is the place for up-to-date news and analysis on clean coal technology developments and energy policy progress.
Nice that you give Obama credit for clean coal. He was against it when McCain proposed it.
If Hydrogen-powered cars were emphasized nationwide (as Gov. Arnold Schwartzenegger is doing in California, with huge political damage to him from Big Coal, etc)–the savings in energy would be so vast.
In the past, hydrogen-powered cars were pooh-poohed by Big Oil, which informed us that “it would be too costly to build filling stations for hydrogen-powered cars.” That was a couple of years ago.
Since then, the price of gas–now in free-fall–skyrocketed. Resulting in–among many other bad things–one good one–gas stations nationwide went bankrupt to a degree never before seen. Even though gas-at-the-pump prices, are now dropping through the floor, there are plenty–PLENTY–of empty gas stations, nation wide, which could accomodate a hydrogen filling system. Now. Why hydrogen?
Firstly, it’s clean energy. Hydrogen’s split from water by electrolysis, which we all learned about in General Science.
Secondly, it wouldn’t require much if any tinkering with cars’ starter systems.
Thirdly, it’s a renewable resource; the ‘exhaust’ is pure, clean WATER. Again, the powers-that-be inveigh against this exhaust, explaining that “water on the road (from the exhaust system) would “make the roads too slippery!” Boy, I love it when Big Oil gets desperate, don’t you?
Of course, just as you have carbon capture of ‘clean coal’
you could have–in fact, you’d have to have–exhaust capture of water in a hydrogen–powered car. This goes right to our next shortage–water. We all see this one coming. And with hydrogen-powered cars–the more you drive, the more water is created.
Where in the car would this exhaust be stored? Why, in the trunk of course–in reusabe poly bags which could be tapped to bring driver-created drinking water and cooking water inside for household use, when the car’s parked.
But this would play havoc with Big Oil’s bottom line. They’ve steadfastly resisted this new technology, and they’re not at all interested in sacrificing themselves for the common good. Result?
Now Detroit–the big three–had to tap bank funds for a bailout. Nobody–in this Bush economy–is able or willing to buy the gas guzzlers promoted by Bush/Cheney for the past ten years. (Yes, two years before this cartel’s most famous spokespeople became the President and the VP respectively, and formed the “Energy Task Force”.)
We wonder–how about those hydrogen cars now, Detroit? How about cleaning the air AND forestalling a truly major environmental catastrophe–that of having to limit fresh water and raising its price exponentially? Hydrogen cars produce clean, pure water–the more you drive, the more you make. FOR YOUR OWN USE!
Imagine this 2/for/1. Imagine it, because Big Oil AND their handmaiden, the Big Bankrupt Three, have been working overtime seeing to it that the corporate-owned media in this country, doesn’t ever mention these cars, except for a single sentence now and then. Always with the caveat that, “…there doesn’t seem to be any interest in hydrogen powered cars…”
Yeah right. What there is now, is NO INTEREST AT ALL in any more gas guzzlers. And since you can’t run cars on ‘clean coal’–(of which there’s no such thing)–I guess the looming water shortage will be on us sooner rather than later…too bad.
People. Educate yourselves about hydrogen cars! Anyone with a computer can do this.
You–we all–owe this to ourselves, for our sake but most especially for our childrens’ sake. What kind of a world will we be leaving them?
A way better one I hope than the powers that now be, plan to do. And as the first, most mobile society on the face of the planet, it should fall to the PEOPLE to drive innovation in personal vehicles.
Not a few politicos bought by the long-established energy czars of this country. This needs to be a MOVEMENT. As in, Move-On.org to get behind it.
Are you listening, George Soros? Hydrogen-powered cars–made possible by the activism of Move-On.org that you founded. Think about it…
Val, what evidence do you provide to support your statement that “big coal” is opposing Governor Schwartzenneger on hydrogen cars? Also, are you aware that according to the National Hydrogen Association, probably one of the more efficient and economical ways to produce hydrogen is from coal? We welcome your comments on the blog, but we’ll be quick to point out when you paint with too broad of a brush. We support the use of all domestic energy resources — including advanced clean coal projects (like the FutureGen project) that will use coal to produce hydrogen.