Pittsburgh International Coal Conference: Getting serious about CCS

As you may have read from our previous blog posts, this week the city of Pittsburgh hosted the 26th Annual International Coal Conference, which focused on issues and technologies surrounding the continued use of coal.

As the city filled up with the world’s foremost scientists, geologists, engineers and business leaders, our climate and energy challenges became increasingly realistic.

According to Granger Morgan, a Carnegie Mellon University engineering professor who spoke at the event, we must get more serious about the use of clean coal technologies, especially if the United States wants to cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 80 percent by 2050. “Coal with carbon capture and sequestration will be an essential part of this solution,” Morgan said.

The regional spotlight may have inspired Pennsylvania State University alumnus Ted O’Brien to “get more serious” about at our climate and energy issues. In a recent letter to the Daily Collegian, O’Brien writes that Americans “would be better off coming to the realization that coal is a necessary piece of our generation mix” and should “encourage those in power to work toward cleaning its emissions” via technologies like CCS.

Reaching our goal of cutting CO2 emissions will take a multi-pronged approach, but we know that CCS technologies are part of the solution. What questions do you have about this technology and what other ideas do you have for a balanced energy approach?