Clean coal a necessary evil until renewable energy catches up

China and the United States are huge energy consumers and right now a majority of that energy is generated by coal. An instant switch to renewable energy would certainly be the ideal solution but that isn’t realistic given the installed energy infrastructure and our current ability to harness power from renewable sources. Given that scenario clean coal begins to look a little bit like an OK temporary solution despite its roots that start with industry cash cows.

The recent Copenhagen conference held high hopes for many but the end result was a non-binding agreement with voluntary targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. That means individual countries will largely be driving any efforts toward green business, and perhaps within those countries business leaders will now play a key role in creating change. Clean coal may be a compromise between preserving some existing profit from coal energy and building a new production model based on renewable sources.

The United States and China are heating up the competition in research and manufacturing renewable energy components and it may make sense to capitalize on some synergies between them. But, currently there is not enough pressure or incentive to make that happen as both countries are focused on creating jobs in their own economies.

China is still somewhat early in its metamorphosis toward becoming a first world country but already it has many coal power plants. “About 50 per cent of electricity in the US – and about 80 per cent in China – still comes from coal,” according to Financial Times.

Clean coal essentially captures the carbon contained in emissions through the use of filters and creates solid byproducts rather than pushing it into the atmosphere. Disposing of that solid waste still creates a conflict with environmentalists but at least we aren’t breathing it.