ecotea's Comments (5)

“Great Ideal! New economy without coal! Not in our lifetime or our childrens' children lifetime! Coal supplies nearly 50% of our electric power. I'll acknowledge that one can reduce (slightly) the dependence on fossil fuels through wind power or solar power. And yes, you can individually do a lot at home to conserve power or even run your entire house on solar power if you are willing to radically change your lifestyle. Industry doesn't have that option to remain globally competitive. Any way you cut it, coal (and coke) are required to power steel mills, for example. Aluminum refining uses so much electricity that only hydro power is economic, introducing the destruction of rivers and fish habitat. We could, as a country decide that we will buy our raw materials from overseas, thus moving the center of consumption of fossil fuels to some where else. Does that solve the problem? A hydrogen economy using fuel cells? The production of hydrogen uses huge amounts of electricity mostly generated by coal. Use solar cells / solar concentrators to generate hydrogen? Yes, but at what cost and how much land in the Western US are you wiling to sacrifice for enormous solar arrays? To be realistic, let's find cleaner ways of burning coal but realize that your electric bills are going to increase.”