The Reality Coalition, a joint effort by the Alliance for Climate Protection, League of Conservation Voters, Natural Resources Defense Council, National Wildlife Federation, and Sierra Club, kicked off a campaign last week called "Reality" to help America get real about "clean coal" technology, or the lack thereof. Their tagline, "there is no such thing as clean coal", says it all. They have a print ad and a 30-second television spot.
The reality is that roughly 1/3 of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions come from approximately 600 coal-fired power plants, none of which capture or store CO2 emissions. The more than 70 proposed new coal-fired power plants, none of which utilize anything that could be called clean coal technology, would add another 200 million tons of emissions into the atmosphere. As the Reality Coalition website states:
Let's be clear: there are no US homes, factories, shopping centers or churches powered by coal plants that capture and store their global warming pollution.
That fact didn't stop Joe Lucas, vice president for communications for the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, from telling NPR's Robert Siegel "that clean coal refers to a "whole suite of technologies" that have allowed the industry to make great strides toward reducing the environmental footprint of using coal to generate electricity." Huh? Which technologies would those be?
As Dave Roberts at Grist points out, Lucas's lack of specifics doesn't change the actual reality of the situation:
When coal was first used to generate electricity at the turn of the 20th century, power plants sequestered none of their greenhouse gas emissions. Today, after over a century of "evolution," coal plants sequester none of their greenhouse gas emissions. For the next decade, at least, coal plants will sequester none of their greenhouse gas emissions. - Grist
The American public remains confused, however; convinced that renewable energy technology is somewhere in the future - despite our current ability to generate power from wind, solar and geothermal - and that clean coal technology is here today, despite that there is no evidence of any such thing. A reality check is certainly long over due.
The coal industry has spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to convince Americans that the future of energy is in an oxymoron called "clean coal." It was the dumbest thing coal executives ever did, because in the process they made it clear that "dirty coal" is no longer an acceptable energy source. They launched and executed a brilliant campaign against their own interests. - Solve Climate
So while 2008 temperatures have made this the hottest decade in recorded history, the coal industry plays word games to try to convince us that what is real and true is not reality. That if they say "clean coal" enough, we will believe that it exists. If only words had that much power to stop emissions. But they don't. To stop climate change we need to stop using polluting sources of energy. Renewable energy options exist and "clean coal' doesn't. It's a good thing we have a reality check to make it clear.
Image Credit: Paul Falardeau
Related Reading:
Power Companies Get Vocal on Low-Carbon Technology
League of Conservation Voters: "I will point out hypocrisy" Campaign
