re: #303 ArchangelMichael

Oh, I agree… Sarah Palin (and the rest of the yammering politicians) don’t really know what they are talking about when uttering “clean coal”. Nevertheless, there are approaches to using coal other than those we currently use.

For example, underground coal gasification (UCG). That is, you don’t dig up the stuff, but burn it partially, while it is in place. One drills holes into the coal seam, pump in air, start a fire, then pump out the combustion gases which include not only CO2 but also CO (and perhaps some others). The gases that aren’t CO2 can be used (with the input of energy, of course) to make liquids via a gas to liquids (GTL) process.

The net energy of such a process is only a fraction of current coal burning, but nearly all the nasty stuff (such as mercury) is left in situ.