Category Archives: Coal

Patzek: CTL coal-to-liquids from FT Synthesis is NOT likely to happen

Posted on July 21, 2014 by

This is a liquid fuel crisis – diesel to be exact – to keep tractors, trucks, trains, and ships moving. There’s not enough coal or water to make even a small percent of the FT-CTL diesel fuel we need from … Continue reading →

Posted in Coal, Tad Patzek | 1 Comment

External costs of coal: probably over $500 billion per year in USA

Posted on May 4, 2014 by

Paul R. Epstein, et al. 2011. Full cost accounting for the life cycle of coal in “Ecological Economics Reviews.” Robert Costanza, Karin Limburg & Ida Kubiszewski, Eds. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 1219: 73–98. This paper tabulates a wide range of … Continue reading →

Posted in Chemicals, CO2 and Methane, Coal, Hazardous Waste, Water | Comments Off

Set the planet on fire: Burn underground coal to gasify it. Worse than Fracking.

Posted on February 13, 2014 by

Fire in the hole: After fracking comes coal. 13 February 2014 by Fred Pearce. NewScientist. Setting fire to coal underground could answer our energy prayers, or start an environmental disaster on a bigger scale than ever before. Without a way to … Continue reading →

Posted in Coal, Global Warming | Tagged , , , | Comments Off

Coal Power Plants stumped by Burning Wood

Posted on November 24, 2013 by

Power Plants Try Burning Wood With Coal to Cut Carbon Emissions.  Matt Wald. New York Times. November 3, 2013. There are many difficulties to burning wood in coal plants: Pound for pound, wood only produces 66% as much energy as … Continue reading →

Posted in Coal, Wood | Comments Off

Peak Coal in America

Posted on November 4, 2013 by

Peak Coal: Will the US Run Out of Coal in 20 Years or 200 Years? “Most U.S. coal is buried too deeply to be mined at a profit.” According to the New York Academy of Sciences, Peak Coal in America … Continue reading →

Posted in Coal, Fossil Fuels | Comments Off

Peak fossil fuels means global warming less than projected

Posted on July 15, 2013 by

This Science article states we could emit CO2 at the same rate we are now for another 50 years before going over the 2 degrees Celsius level we need to avoid a runaway greenhouse.  Since we are at peak world fossil … Continue reading →

Posted in CO2 and Methane, Coal, Global Warming, Oil | Comments Off

Peak Coal is already here or likely by 2020, so IPCC 100 year projections are probably far too high

Posted on January 8, 2013 by

Peak Coal is happening right now because conventional oil production peaked in 2005 Oil is the master resource without which coal can’ be mined and transported.  As both conventional and unconventional oil decline, the remaining oil will at some point … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change, Climate Change, CO2 and Methane, Coal, Fossil Fuels, Global Warming, Runaway Greenhouse | Tagged | 1 Comment

Coal: why it can’t easily substitute for oil

Posted on July 9, 2011 by

In a major 2009, 737 page landmark study of our energy predicament, the National Academy of Sciences proposes  that the only possible near-term solution to a substitute transportation fuel to replace gasoline is liquified coal.   Liquified coal is the only … Continue reading →

Posted in Coal, Energy | Comments Off