Originally published April 2 2005
Gasification of coal can satisfy the United States energy needs while alternative energy systems are implemented
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
As crude oil reserves dwindle, there is a major call for alternative energy sources that will not only stop the United States dependence on OPEC, but burn cleaner than gasoline. In the meantime, to bridge the gap between oil power and alternative energy, coal can be gasified so that it produces only carbon dioxide and hydrogen. This would allow the US to run on hydrogen power.
Relief isn't likely to come anytime soon from drilling elsewhere: Oil companies spent $8 billion on exploration in 2003, but discovered only $4 billion of commercially useful oil.
Sadly, most alternatives to conventional oil can't give us the immense amount of energy we need without damaging our environment, jeopardizing our national security or bankrupting us.
The obvious alternatives are other fossil fuels: natural gas and oil products derived from tar sands, oil shale and even coal.
To meet the expected growth in total American energy demand over the next 50 years would require building 1,200 new nuclear power plants in addition to the current 104 - or one plant every two weeks until 2050.
To satisfy its current electricity demand using today's technology, the United States would need 10 billion square meters of photovoltaic panels; this would cost $5 trillion, or nearly half the country's annual gross domestic product.
To replace just America's surface transportation with cars and trucks running on fuel cells powered by hydrogen, America would have to produce 230,000 tons of the gas - or enough to fill 13,000 Hindenburg dirigibles - every day.
For the near term, there is no silver bullet.
Here's how it works: In a type of power plant called an integrated gasification combined-cycle facility, we change any fossil fuel, including coal, into a superhot gas that is rich in hydrogen - and in the process strip out pollutants like sulfur and mercury.
As in a traditional combustion power plant, the heat generates large amounts of electricity; but in this case, the gas byproducts can be pure streams of hydrogen and carbon dioxide.
This process is called geologic storage, or carbon sequestration, and recent field demonstrations in Canada and Norway have shown it can work and work safely.
All content posted on this site is commentary or opinion and is protected under Free Speech. Truth Publishing LLC takes sole responsibility for all content. Truth Publishing sells no hard products and earns no money from the recommendation of products. NaturalNews.com is presented for educational and commentary purposes only and should not be construed as professional advice from any licensed practitioner. Truth Publishing assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of this material. For the full terms of usage of this material, visit www.NaturalNews.com/terms.shtml