Clean coal. It has a ring to it. We are the Saudi Arabia of coal. So much that we could power electric cars and trucks for years and years. One problem, it doesn’t meet environmental standards, so we can’t use it. Coal fired plants are shutting down. New ones slated to start are not starting. The carbon tax is scaring all away. So, like our oil, our potential nuclear, our natural gas in Alaska we can’t get to the lower 48, we wait and put hopes in new technologies. Like clean coal.
It’s not a new idea. We have put millions if not billions in FutureGen, a clean coal effort in Mattoon, Illl. which failed after lots of investment of your tax dollars. But, don’t despair, the Feds are passing out another $3.4 billion to try again. Competition is stiff from cities trying to get this money. And so it goes.
This country may actually find a cure for cancer before we find renewable energy at any price that competes with fossil fuels or nuclear power. But, the powers to be aren’t the least concerned about cost. Cap and trade will level the playing field.
It is estimated that a clean coal plant will produce power at ten times a new gas power plant. Multiply your power bill by ten and see how you would like to balance your budget.
We will dump $50 billion into Dr. Chu’s big effort. This year and next. We will get nada, zilch, zero from all this.
We have years of history to show the way these experiments run by our government spend money and get zero results. Is it a flash to anyone that our government is inefficient? Is it news that our government can’t run anything? Yet, we are putting all our trust in our government to fix every problem. we have have right now.
If the economy picks up, and that’s a big if, demand for energy will go up. If the global economy picks up and ours doesn’t demand for energy will go up. If both pick up we will be back where we were in 2008. With gasoline at $5 a gallon, utility bills skyrocketing, and cap and trade taxes in place pushing both higher, will our economy give up any gains we got from all the efforts we are making?
When common sense kicks in and we give up the dream energy projects, we will have a big lag before we can go after sources we know will work. That lag will be a painful time.
We have become a country devoid of common sense. We will be competing with countries with abundant common sense. China, for one. They will do what it takes to drive their economy. That means more nuclear power, more fossil fuels, more coal, and more cheap energy to drive their country past ours in mach speed.
Watch and cry.
