Handling emissions called key to coal's future

PRICE — In the heart of Utah's coal country, a government adviser told a group on Wednesday that coal will have a place in the world's energy future, but emissions remain a hurdle.

One likely option is putting those emissions in the ground rather than in the air.

Speaking at the Rural Business Summit, Darren Mollot, a senior technical adviser in the Planning and Environmental Analysis Division of the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Fossil Energy, said that one projection indicates there are enough recoverable coal reserves in the world to provide energy for about 50 years. Many countries, especially developing countries, will continue to use coal as a main energy source.

But carbon and greenhouse gas emissions must be addressed, Mollot said, and the DOE and others are working on several technologies, including pumping emissions underground in a process known as sequestration.

Technological challenges linger, he said. Carbon dioxide can be captured, but the problem is the high cost and verifying the reliability of the storage process. Plus, capturing carbon dioxide cuts the efficiency of power generation plants: "The same amount of coal in and a lot less electricity out."

The U.S. emits about 6 billion tons of carbon dioxide annually from all sources, including cars, and under one scenario, it will produce about a trillion tons over the next 100 years, he said. That would equate to the state of Utah being covered with 14 feet of liquid carbon dioxide.

"That's how much CO2 we're going to be putting down there in the next 100 years," Mollot said. "That's a lot of CO2. That's a lot of volume. So we've got to make sure that that actually stays where we want it to stay and it's actually not going to be bubbling out."

Sequestration has its detractors, including the environmental group Greenpeace, who say that current sequestration plans rely on unproven technologies. Research by federal scientists including the U.S. Geological Survey's Yousif Kharaka has shown that stored carbon dioxide could leak and make the surrounding water acidic, and pose health risks to people and wildlife.

Regional partnerships between government and industry will attempt to determine where to put the emissions, validate the technology and then deploy the technology. Demonstration projects could be in place in perhaps five years. The costs will need to be reduced before widespread implementation happens, and the public also will need to be on board, Mollot added.