Advocates of clean coal technology, including U.S. President Barrack Obama, showed support for this idea. Despite the fact that coal is unpleasant to the health and the environment, the other side of this technology can bring about positive results. This issue has become popular because needless to say, coal can contaminate everything it comes in contact with. Hence, residents in coal mining areas are threatened of the adverse effects of coal.
Nevertheless, clean coal technology reportedly has lots of advantages and disadvantages. Knowing how these can affect the environment and health can be a huge advantage for people living in coal mining areas to resolve any doubt. If you want to know more about clean coal technology, the pros and cons here can help you to better understand this concept.
List of Pros of Clean Coal
1. It Can Produce Abundant Energy.
Usually, mined coal produces low quality output in which greenhouse gases are emitted when burned. This is unlike high quality coal utilized by most domestic users. In other words, this is unusable in industries all over America. However, increasing the quality of mined coal will reduce the said emission. This method was discovered by scientists through converting it into flammable gas or removing carbon dioxide from it during the burning process. Hence, it will all be converted into a rich supply of energy.
2. It Can Power A Generator.
A number of technologies are used to convert coal into clean coal. One way is to gasify coal by turning it into gas form to be used in powering a generator. Clean coal can also be achieved by installing filters on exhausts of coal power plants to capture the greenhouse gases when burning it. Storage of gases from burned coal can also be done by storing them underground.
3. Good Alternative to Other Fuels.
Accordingly, clean coal can be a good alternative to natural gas or other types of fuel. This is because it is so much economical than building new plants conforming to new regulations. Coal is more reasonable in price compared to others. Most of all it is a lot more mature than any renewable power plants, allowing quicker deployment of clean coal for daily use.
List of Cons of Clean Coal
1. Still A Threat to Health.
Even if clean coal has a good potential for future technologies, it’s still the same coal that has carbon dioxide and other types of pollutants. Transporting coal mining waste also requires high cost. Even coal ash can be considered a hazardous waste.
2. It Is Just an Ad Campaign.
Allegedly, the thought of producing clean coal is just a notion made by the coal industry and its proponents. According to critics, promoting coal as clean is a little bit just like an advertising slogan.
3. Creating Clean Coal is Too Expensive.
Making coal a clean type of fuel can cost a lot of money. In fact, critics state that so far only research has been made regarding the gasification of coal to remove carbon dioxide and related pollutants. Moreover, only a small number of plants were built but was just used to contain Sulphur and other contaminants.
Crystal Lombardo is a contributing editor for Vision Launch. Crystal is a seasoned writer and researcher with over 10 years of experience. She has been an editor of three popular blogs that each have had over 500,000 monthly readers.
