July 27, 2008

Now that the U.S. Department of Energy has decided to go in a different direction with FutureGen, we should encourage the development of a Texas public-private lignite mine-mouth clean coal power plant that employs carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, captures nearly all emissions including carbon dioxide, leaving some of the CO2 for enhanced oil recovery and other commercially viable purposes.

Odd as it may sound, Texas is the nation’s fifth largest producer of coal.  Nearly 45 million tons of Texas lignite are mined annually to produce electricity.  Another 55 million tons are railed into the Lone Star state.

At today’s consumption levels, we have enough lignite to last another 200 years.  And that’s a good thing because over the life of a power plant considering current fuel prices it is cheaper to make electricity from coal than natural gas.   

Cost is an important, but only one of the things we have to consider in making fuel source choices.  Another consideration, of course, is environmental impact.  Thankfully, Texas has proactively lessened the environmental impact of the state’s electricity generation facilities and industrial output.  Annual NOx emissions from non-electricity generating units have fallen 22% since 1999 while NOx emissions form electricity generating units have fallen by more than 57% in the same time period.  We’ve seen a similar decline in SO2 emissions.  SO2 emissions from non-electricity generation facilities have fallen by about 15% since 1999 while SO2 emissions from electricity generating plants have dropped by more than 22% since 1999.

Coal has to be part of our electricity mix.  But it has to be clean not just cheap.  Carbon capture and storage might just make all the difference in the world.

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