Can Clean Coal Actually Work? Time to Find Out.

From Discover Magazine | Environment:

The concept of "clean coal" has been a buzzword for years but can it actually work? We'll find out now, as Germany opens the first ever clean coal power plant. The world's first "clean coal" power plant fired up in September in the eastern German city of Spremberg. Traditional coal-fired power plants, which produce 36 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions in the United States, are the fastest-growing source of energy—and air pollution—around the world. Clean coal technology does not release carbon dioxide into the air, instead using carbon capture and storage (CCS) to collect the gas, concentrate it, and pump it deep underground for permanent storage in natural geologic formations. At least that is the concept; there has never been an operational CCS system at a coal-fired power plant, until now.

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