Carbon Capture - Will It Work?
December 18th, 2007 | Posted in Energy
I’m very surprised a Texas site didn’t win the bid to host FutureGen’s state-of-the-art coal-fueled power plant. Honestly, I’ve become very cynical these days, and given the influence of the White House, I thought a power project using federal dollars - don’t they all? - would have easily landed in Bushland. Consider me “de-cynicized”, for the day at least.
According to the article:
“The coal used at FutureGen won’t be burned in a bioler [sic]. Instead, it will be converted to a synthetic gas so pollutants can be stripped out. And most of the carbon dioxide that’s produced will be captured, compressed into a liquid and injected deep underground instead of being vented into the air.”
I’ve said repeatedly I’m skeptical of this technology, but skepticism doesn’t necessarily lead to opposition. Let’s see how it works and go from there. I would be very happy to see it work, but only under one condition. I want the entire energy community to acknowledge that carbon capture technology would only be used as a bridge to clean, renewable energy generation. Seriously, right now. Could all polluters please sign this pledge? No? Okay, maybe next week.
While carbon capture promises not to release harmful emissions into the air, this new process of generating power from coal still creates a pollutant, in the form of a liquid. And the procedure for getting rid of this liquid, which is obviously harmful to organisms, is to inject into the ground. I can already imagine a news story breaking in 2013 that details how one of the pipes going down to whatever level is considered safe for this liquid’s deposit has burst and contaminated the water table in Illinois. Of course federal dollars will be needed to clean up the mess, and water will have to be delivered to Mattoon residents in non-biodegradable #6 plastic water bottles (ahhhh!) for years until the natural stuff is safe to drink again. Well, the de-cynicism didn’t last as long as I’d hoped.
Indirectly, I hope the economic boom forecasted for Mattoon is realized. More development between Chicago and St. Louis means higher odds of my great-great-grand children seeing a high-speed train connecting the two cities.
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