Assuming we can capture and store emissions, should we continue to rely on coal as a primary energy source?

No

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by Fred Tolleson

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Should we rely on coal as a primary energy source? Coal and petroleum related products should not be retained as high priorities for our energy policies. They may retain a spot on the totem pole of priorities for some time, but slowly and gradually, we need to turn to the other producers of energy as a primary energy source.

Let us examine a few of these possibilities. Nuclear Power has been spoken about quite a bit lately because President Bush asked Congress for a "pass" for this industry licensing and operating standards. As foolish as this sounds, he wants the nuclear industry to be lured into building more plants in our country. To encourage the industry he asked congress to shorten the licensing procedures to a basic handshake and not too much more prior to building the plant. After the plant is built, he wanted Congress to lower the operating safety standards and relieve the industry of liability for problems developing with the plant after it has begun operations. Needless to say, Congress has not responded to this request.

Another small problem with Nuclear plants are the high initial investments. A small to medium size plant goes for about $15 Billion! The plant produces for 15-20 years and is then dismantled as a way of maintaining construction integrity - just do away with the plant. And where do you store spent nuclear products? No answers are forthcoming which are popular. Sending them all to the heart of the Sun has a certain justice to it!

Natural Gas and oil fired electrical producing power plants come in second to coal fired plants for cheap power production. If coal is the backbone of our energy producers, gas and oil fired plants are certainly the legs and arms of this giant. More than 50% of our total production comes from these 3 sources. The same problems of pollution dog the gas and oil fired plants. And of more recent note, the price of natural gas and oil are rising so rapidly these type plants may not be able to sell the electricity they produce. It will simply be too expensive! The future for these sources is clouded, at best!

Bio-fuels, ethanol, corn gas, or whatever term you are most familiar with, represents a large and growing group of alternatives for use in our cars. They are popular with the general public, highly regarded as the next "green" thing to save us all! However, any research into the production of these basic vegetable oil producing plants will reveal we are spending way too much petroleum oil to make these new kinds of oil. The process whereby these crops are grown, harvested and converted to usable products consumes almost as much oil as is being produced. This will not help the future of the Bio-Fuels movement.

Solar, wind, tidal, and underground steam are not new, but have received a lot of attention lately because of the high price of oil products. In the Pacific Northwest wind is being harnessed in different areas to turn the huge turbines and generate rather large blocs of electrical power. The problem of this source is the varied gate at which power is produced. One day is Megawatts, next day is nothing and the third day was only for 15 minutes!
Tidal technology is just coming on line and is not producing enough under enough diverse conditions to judge whether this is going to work to be the next big source, or what! It looks promising and has been used around the planet at various points and times.
Using underground heat to superheat water and drive turbines is getting a lot of looks now that laser technology has made drilling deep homes feasible and quick. It may be possible to go down to the earths mantle and find magma there that will superheat water and return it to a turbine. Once used it is re-cycled - another point in favor of this process. We will have to wait and see if this does anything, is too expensive, or what!

My favorite for the big time winner in the future is Solar Electric. The sun delivers more energy to the surface of the earth by noon each day than we could use over the next 40 years. We haven't learned how to convert but a tiny fraction of it, but we are working on the process. At present solar modules (devices about 3 inches per side) produce small wattage in sunlight. Put the solar modules together in a Solar Panel (72 modules is one package size, there are others) and you get higher currents as long as the sun lasts. Combine the Solar Panels into Solar Arrays (20 feet by 12 feet) and you power a home! Put a few Solar Arrays into a Solar Farm and you can produce 1-5 megawatts. Each megawatt produces power for 500-1,000 homes! A basic improved solar module is coming out next year that will increase efficiency from 15-18% to 50-65%! Also, a solar process is being developed which will store heat from the sun during the daytime and use it at night to power electrical generators - voila! Power from the sun after the sun has gone down!

Coal fired electrical plants produce electricity cheaper than any other process, including solar! However, they also pollute the atmosphere, generally are not located where the supply of coal is located, thereby causing transportation problems, and are constantly being threatened by environmental groups. Capturing and storing emissions technology is not keeping pace with need. Several coal power plants are shut down now and not likely to be re-opened. Pacific Power recently announced they would not be applying for license to build any more of these plants. The era for coal powered electricity has plainly gone by!

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