The phrase “clean coal” came up in all three presidential debates. So what is clean coal? The Christian Science Monitor has a brief article describing the concept. The concern now, of course, isn’t just that burning coal releases acid-rain causing sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere, or that burning coal is a major source of mercury contamination, or that surface mining of coal is rather hard on landscapes and water. The concern is that burning coal releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The idea behind “clean coal” is to take the CO₂ produced by combustion of coal, and to inject it underground for long-term storage. This has been tested on a small scale, but never been tested on a large scale.

Coal, being particularly abundant in the United States, is likely to be a key part of our energy future for quite some time.

Read more about it at What is ‘clean coal’ anyway?

Both McCain and Obama support the development of clean coal technology.

Grace and Peace