China's fast-developing technology and American research could pave path for coal and climate

While eliminating or reducing use of coal is often called the key in combating global warming, using the fuel in more sustainable ways may be the only option for combating climate change before it produces irreversible cataclysm. To foster development of clean-coal technology, the United States needs to turn to China for its considerable resources in the industry, James Fallows of The Atlantic writes. "For the coal industry, the term 'clean coal' is an advertising slogan; for many in the environmental movement, it is an insulting oxymoron," Fallows writes. "But two ideas that underlie the term are taken with complete seriousness by businesses, scientists, and government officials in China and America, and are the basis of the most extensive cooperation now under way between the countries on climate issues."

There is no plausible way to meet the global energy demand without using coal, Fallows argues, so countries should try to decrease its environmental impact as much as possible. Fallows provides a thorough examination of the basics of climate change science before concluding coal's role in it will need to be addressed because of dependence on the fuel. "It is very hard to go around the world and think you can make any difference in carbon-loading the atmosphere without some plan for how people can continue to use coal," Julio Friedmann of Lawrence Livermore Laboratories said. "It is by far the most prevalent and efficient way to generate electricity. People are going to use it. There is no story of climate progress without a story for coal."

Reducing coal emissions centers on two different approaches: capturing carbon dioxide before it can escape into the air and reducing the carbon dioxide that coal produces when burned. Under either approach carbon dioxide must be sequestered after it is removed from coal. "In the search for 'progress on coal,' like other forms of energy research and development, China is now the Google, the Intel, the General Motors and Ford of their heyday—the place where the doing occurs, and thus the learning by doing as well," Fallows writes.

"They [the Chinese] are doing so much so fast that their learning curve is at an inflection that simply could not be matched in the United States," David Mohler of Duke Energy told Fallows. Any challenges to the Chinese system "make the threats facing America look trivial by comparison," Fallows writes. "But its response to the energy challenge — including its commitment to dealing with the dirty, unavoidable reality of coal — reveals a seriousness about facing big problems that America now appears to lack." (Read more)