Sustainability
“Despite all the schemes selling ways to capture carbon there is no environmentally sound or quick method to safely restore the fossil fuels and carbon deposits at the rate they have been unleashed into the atmosphere” (Gilbertson & Reyes, 2009, p. 14)
The information contained in the previous tabs leads to the conclusion that "clean" coal technologies are not sustainable. However, sustainability is a subjective measure and it is recognized that different conclusions can be drawn from the same information. Economically, "clean" coal technologies provide marginally cheaper electricity than renewable energy sources Schrag, "Storage of Carbon Dioxide in Offshore Sediments"). "Clean" coal technologies would also allow for the use of a reliable and consistent base electricity load (Haszeldine, 2009). However, neither of these facts can outweigh the massive social and environmental impacts that are caused by the use of coal.
By requiring coal mining, "clean" coal technologies are and always will be unsustainable. Coal is, by definition, a non-renewable resource and therefore cannot be replaced at anything close to the rate that it is being extracted, or would need to be extracted in an even more coal dependent United States. And, the promotion of "clean" coal technologies and a "clean" coal industry demands the expansion of unsustainable and environmentally harmful mining practices. Widespread dependence on "clean" coal would have the following effects:
- Expanded coal extraction (potentially including mountaintop removal)
- Continuing or expanding explosions and coal drilling in areas with coal deposits
- Greater numbers of heavy duty equipment being driven through forests and mountaintop environments as part of coal extraction process
- Increased water pollution associated with the exposure of dangerous metals which are bound naturally in mountaintop rocks to the surrounding water supply
- Environmental costs associated with building new IGCC plant infrastructure
- Supporting the fossil fuel-based shipping industry that allows coal to be transported
- Increased amounts of “slurry” which will continue to contaminate the water supply in the Appalachian region where much of it is stored
Even if the U.S. were to promote "clean" coal technologies, a carbon tax, or some other such carbon regulation, would be necessary to incentivize companies to build an IGCC plant over a Pulverized Coal plant. In fact, unless the government were to set the tax at $29 per ton of carbon dioxide or more, it would be more economically viable for a company that is simply looking to build the cheapest overall plant, to build a Pulverized Coal plant and pay the tax as opposed to constructing an IGCC plant with a carbon capture system (Bergerson & Lave, 2007).
With these operating circumstances, it is too likely that coal companies would use “clean” coal technologies as a cover to continue construction of new coal fired power plants. Each additional power plant would, at the very least, increase demand for coal and, therefore, coal extraction would increase proportionally. Additionally, power plants constructed today influence the energy portfolio and guide energy policy for decades to come. Consequently, every new coal fired power plant, regardless of whether it uses "clean" coal technologies or not, will delay the introduction and widespread adoption of other, more sustainable, technologies.