If you’ve ever seen the words “clean coal,” you’re seeing a literal lie. Coal cannot and never will be clean. This was put into play by some coal companies as a way of making coal look good in public. While there have been some reductions in pollution put into the environment by those employing clean coal technology, it is not as big as people assume. Moreover, it’s ultimately not even getting rid of the major pollution coal creates. Rather, this stores pollutants to keep them out of the atmosphere. Many times, that storage is underground.
[Image via Rudmer Zwerver/Shutterstock.com]The issue here is that you cannot store it forever. Plus, in order to even employ this method, you have to use a lot of power. Up to 25% more coal use, in fact. Of course, they are not getting that power from other clean coal. Do you think all of this is cheap for companies? Not at all. Therefore, it’s more expensive and uses more power and therefore more coal to accomplish. That is the very reason why it’s not even widespread in the United States and barely touched worldwide. You’re actually better off using coal normally based on the idiotic measures clean coal tech needs.
