Can Captured Carbon Save Coal-Fired Power? Extracting carbon
dioxide from power plant exhaust and storing it underground may
be the only hope to avoid a climate change catastrophe caused by
burning fossil fuels David Biello, June 22, 2009 (Scientific
American)SUMMARY It is no wonder the dream of “clean” coal is so
seductive. The use of coal as a fuel causes 40% of all
greenhouse gas emissions (GhGs) in the world. Yet coal is
especially abundant in the world’s biggest GhG-generating
nations, China and the U.S. Many of the same scientists whose
opinions form the foundation of the climate science validating
global climate change, like the International Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC), also believe the only way climate change can be
stopped is by using carbon capture and sequestration (CCS)
technology, or “clean” coal, to eliminate the GhG spew. There
are important and prominent exceptions. James Hansen, the NASA
climate scientist who first called public attention to the
significance of atmospheric GhG accumulatio