Clean coal - fact or myth ?

The urgency of global warming has put pressure on our energy supply but whatever decisions finally emerge will take decades to implement. If the nation decides to go with renewable energy - wind farms, wave power and solar - huge investment over many years will be required to bring them to fruition - and then only as part of the power grid. At this stage, none of these alternatives will be capable of delivering sustainable peak load.
Nuclear is another option. The public is spooked by the fear of accidents and the nuclear waste problem, but so far the anti-nuke lobby has chosen to ignore the fact that some countries - France and Japan included - source most of their power from nuclear reactors - and have done so safely for decades.
So that leaves the present source of energy - coal - as the way we will generate electricity for at least the next decade or so. The coal industry is desperate to gain public support and this is understandable, considering the huge number of jobs involved in coal mining and the incredible amount of money invested in coal mines and their distribution systems.
The promise of clean coal has been raised by supporters, but in fact this is a myth that defies science. When coal is burned to produce energy it requires oxygen and produces carbon dioxide. It is this carbon dioxide that is causing the imbalance that results in global warming.
It is possible to burn coal and remove the resulting carbon dioxide by a process called sequestration. This is a technology not so far perfected, but the main idea is to take the carbon dioxide and house it in suitable rock formations such as worked out oil or gas fields where it can be stored for thousands of years.
Even if this process is perfected quickly the costs will be enormous. Plant will need to be designed and built to scrub Co2 at the point of burning and that will have to be stored in some kind of transport system to be taken to locations where it can be stored. It is a fact that worked out oil and gas fields are usually a long way from power producing stations.
The one inevitable outcome of what is referred to as " clean coal " is a huge increase in cost - and that means a super hike in electricity prices - possibly existing rates jumping by several hundred percent over a short period of time.
If we save the planet we will have to alter our lifestyles. The era of cheap electricity is over and we will now need to give thought to all those labour saving devices - from electric ovens and hot water systems, to television sets and computers that we take for granted. They will cost a lot more to run - and for some they will no longer be affordable.
We would do well to pay attention to the debate on how to save the planet - because whatever decisions are finally made one inescapable fact is that they will hit all of us in the back pocket !