POLLUTION: 'Clean Coal' and 'Swing' States

Image: "Clean Coal - As Real As Aliens" by afagen via Flickr

Clean Coal and Swing States by Joel Koman

How many of you remember seeing Barak Obama or John McCain on the campaign trail talking about clean coal technology? Did you notice how this occurred in the swing states, states like Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and others.

Now consider this, there are no operating clean coal plants in the United States, the proponents of clean coal cannot tell you what it will cost to produce energy using this technology. This technology may not even be viable yet both presidential candidates were talking about how important it is... Why is that?

The economies of these states are tied to the coal industry in many ways, many of the citizens and politicians in those states will fight for coal as if their lives depended on it... this is because their economic lives do depend on it! Unfortunately for us, the general public, and the rest of the world, these states control who gets elected for president and they know it.

In some ways we can understand their selfishness, not wanting to relinquish the power. In other ways we want to say... you dirty bastards, how dare you do this to the rest of us! The coal industry and the states who cater to it are holding our nation hostage, our current two-party political system is allowing it. Our kids will have to pay the bill in more ways than one... it's time we stand up and be heard.

So this is the situation; energy use in the United States and the rest of the world is growing rapidly, the number one method for producing energy is coal, roughly 50% in the United States and 70% in China. In the next 5-10 years hybrid electric vehicles will become much more prevalent. This will create even more demand for electricity.

We are investing hundreds of millions of dollars in coal power plants, technology that sees roughly 5 to 7% price increases per year on the dirtiest method to produce energy we have. On the other hand we have alternative energy, energy that dramatically decreases in cost over time, both via reduced manufacturing costs with mass production and production costs because the equipment is very low maintenance and the energy supply...sunlight, wind, and geothermal are free.

The question is this... Do we want to be a nation who leads the next great worldwide revolution, the Alternative Energy Revolution? Do we want to sell our technology to the rest of the world, especially the Third World countries, as they begin to use more power? Or... do we want to continue to settle our kids with debt for old technology, technology that is obsolete as we speak? Would you like to be the nation responsible for continuing to pollute the world? Who Are The Ones We've Been Waiting For...We Are!

About the Author

Joel Koman loves to write about renewable energy. He is an avid proponent of alternative and renewable energy with an entrepreneurial spirit. He manages his own site QuestionAuthoriTees where all his passion and current projects can be found.

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