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

No

7 of 8

by Bryan Jennings

• 

Write now Print Invite a writer™ Add to Favorites RSS Feed Contact this writer

Assuming that a capture and sequestration technology could be added to the already present air-pollution safe-guards on coal fired power plants, this would still not make coal any more suitable as a technology to build our society off of.

Coal was a wonderful technology when the secrets of a steam turbine were discovered some hundred years ago, and in that time incredible refinements have been made to the technology that has allowed coal fired power plants to become increasingly more efficient. However, that technology is a "mature" one, meaning any increases in efficiency are going to be small and increasingly smaller. We've made coal power plants about as efficient and powerful as we realistically can, and its still not enough. Coal plants can produce, on average, anywhere from 300 Kilowatts to 1.5 Megawatts. This seems impressive, but it is only a small drop in the bucket compared to the growing energy requirements of all nations. This output also requires massive amounts of coal to keep burners firing around the clock, and the methods for mining coal are far from environmentally friendly, or, as recent events have demonstrated, safe.

The truth is, there is a limit to the efficiency of even the most advanced boiler. When mass is converted to energy, there is an upper limit to how much energy can be turned into heat. Some it escapes as radiation (as in a nuclear power plant) some escapes as light (in most combustion reactions) but there is never a perfect conversion of 100% to heat. And this heat is going to what amounts to a very sophisticated water boiler. In essence, for all our sophistication, a large percentage of the world's power is being produced by boiling water. In order to move forward as a society, new methods aside from steam turbines are going to need to be found.

There has been much promising work in both solar panels and fuel cells as possible sources of future energy. These sources do not require converting energy into heat into order to work and both are in their infancy. Bio-fuels may one day power the next generation of efficient steam turbines, and wind power promises to provide ultra-clean, highly efficient power to most parts of the world. These are the paths we should be putting our focus on. Coal is a technology of the past, like the telegraph and the horse and buggy, our research should look towards the future.

Learn more about this author, Bryan Jennings.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.