Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America's Energy Future | 
| Author: Jeff Goodell
Publisher: Mariner Books
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  40 reviews
Sales Rank: 120704
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.5 x 1.1
ISBN: 0618872248
EAN: 9780618872244
ASIN: 0618872248
Publication Date: April 3, 2007
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Condition: New book, ships out next business day, 100% satisfaction guaranteed, may have slight shelf wear
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Product Description
Long dismissed as a relic of a bygone era, coal is back -- with a vengence. Coal is one of the nation's biggest and most influential industries -- Big Coal provides more than half the electricity consumed by Americans today -- and its dominance is growing, driven by rising oil prices and calls for energy independence. Is coal the solution to America's energy problems?
On close examination, the glowing promise of coal quickly turns to ash. Coal mining remains a deadly and environmentally destructive industry. Nearly forty percent of the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere each year comes from coal-fired power plants. In the last two decades, air pollution from coal plants has killed more than half a million Americans. In this eye-opening call to action, Goodell explains the costs and consequences of America's addiction to coal and discusses how we can kick the habit.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 35 more reviews...
 Fills a gap October 4, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
There are currently many books out there on peak oil, or energy concerns in general. However, probably not many people have read up on coal which is an old technology that's having a resurgence of sorts. This book does a nice job of filling in the gaps and talking not only about the pollution issues with coal, but also about supply and demand and what the coal industry is like in the US. I was surprised to find out how much power the railroads have, and how poorly-paid and unprotected the coal miners are. The impression I came away with is that the coal industry is a massively powerful voice in our society and is able to use that power to benefit itself, often against the good of the country. We will probably continue to hear more and more talk about clean coal technology in the near future. Anyone who wants to have some decent beginning knowledge of what's behind coal might enjoy reading this book.
Educational September 18, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The book gives an all around view of the coal mining industry, it sheds light on the political, social and economical forces that drive the industry. The industry can be seen from the miners, mine executives, land owners, and railroads points of view. Overall an interesting read.
 Solid book on Energy April 7, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I read this book along with two others "Color of Oil" and "The clean-tech revolution" to update my energy knowledge. This was clearly the best book of the lot - meticulously researched and well-written. Enough that it tightened my own behaviors: turning off lights were possible, using natural light if an option exists etc. etc.
[See my brief reviews for the other two books as well]
Big Coal, Big Trouble March 1, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I think the main thing I took away from this book is not that the coal industry can't be trusted (it can't), and not that they destroy the environment (they do); it's that we should not fall for the public relations hype that wants to position coal as "the answer" to future oil shortages. In the near future, the coal industry will start a massive publicity campaign to let Americans know that "clean coal" is the energy solution for the next 200 years in our country. Don't believe it, coal is even dirtier and more harmful to your lungs than oil. Read this book to be informed on a subject of vital importance to our country.
IGCC feasibility opinion January 31, 2008
Integrated Combined cycle Gasification (IGCC) is an clean energy alternative. IGCC may some day be linked too FutureGen where goal gasification produces syngas which can be reformed into hydrogen and used to produced fuel cell electricity for central power and transportation. Goodwell calls FutureGen, the $1 billion zero-emission plant, "NeverGen", "will turn out to be just another expensive government boondoggle." The FutureGen plant will take 10 years to build and will come online in 2013. "But it would be foolish to bet on FutureGen as a solution to America's energy problems", says Goodwell. "As of 2005, on a straight cost basis, an IGCC plant is 10 to 20 percent more expensive to build than a conventional plant" Why pay more for electricity if you don't have to? "Rather embrace change, many companies have decided to push for one more generation of old combustion plants, rebranding them as clean."
The new technology must be capable of generation a profit, for adoption; companies that fear future profits will shy away; IGCC must be independantly capable as an innovation to succeed. "Clean coal subsidies have been widely criticized by taxpayer groups, a well as Congress's own watchdog, the Government Accountability Office, as being wasteful and poorly administrated." The environmentalist, David Hawkings says "we will fight to get these plants built, including calling for more federal assistance and streamlining the permitting process." Extremist. Hawkins real agenda seems to be to shutdown the coal industry. There is no grand bargin.
Pros and Cons, pro: natural gas volatility, concerns about global warming, and the potential environmental damage appeal to IGCC advocates. con: raising capital cost and CO2 policy make uncertain IGCC development; CO2 sequestration is in question and can it keep safe millions of tons of CO2 in the ground. "But sequestration is a little more complicated than just drilling a hole in the ground and pumping in the CO2. For one thing,the CO2 frist has to be captured from power plants, then compressed into a supercritical fluid to be injected underground." "Capturing and sequestering carbon is expected to raise the price of electricity by 20 to 25 percent. Using CO2 to enhance oil recovery will reduce costs." Dispite uncertainty progress continues, the IGCC pipeline has thousands of potential megawatts4 in the pipeline. The push forward in power technology assumes that if coal is to remain the primary source for electricity it must implement technologies that reduce CO2. Sequestration seems to be a safe way to store CO2 and is low cost. Abandonment of Sequestration for IGCC CO2 management has the potential of increase electricity costs. The managment of CO2 must be low cost and IGCC technology for managing CO2 seems to meet the criteria. China and India will help build confidence in IGCC development,however, the major of IGCC projects are in the US. Entrepreneurial developers are starting to invest into IGCC and are in a better position to take on the CO2 policy and sequestration risks.
"IGCC plants use heat and pressure to cook of the impurities in coal and convert it into a synthetic gas; the gas is captured and burned in a turbine." IGCC are 10% more efficient than conventional coal plants, consume 40 percent less water, produce half as much ash and solid waste, and nearly as clean burning as natural gas." "In theory, the CO2 that is remoed from coal can be sequestered in underground aquifers, or perhaps under the sea." "But the combination of IGCC and CO2 sequestration at least offes a plausible way to continue using coal without willfully trashing the climate."
Big Coal will continue to expand. "According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the equivalent of fourteen hundred, 1,000 megawatt coal fire power plants will be built in the world by 2030. About half of those plants will be in China, 15 percent in India, and the remaining third primarily inthe coal burning West, including Austrialia and the United States." "The scrubbers on new coal plants might be better, but new plants still release massive quantities of pollution in the air, require prodigious amounts of water for cooling, and generate millions of tons of heavy metal-laden coal ash...Most important,this new geenrtaion of coal plants is very much like the previous generation in one signficant way: they pump hundreds of millions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere."
Goodwell is down on coal-to-liquid plants. Schweitzer has proposed buildinga 150,000 barrel of diesel a day, at a cost of $7.2 billion. Coal-to-liquid makes only diesel, gasoline is much more difficult and expensive. Next, America consumes 20 million barrels a day of oil. At the same time, China has invested $24 billion in a number of coal-to-liquid plants to produce synthetic diesel.
Electric Power business, says Michael Skelly, "The only question you have to answer now is, can you build something that will generate electricity cheaper than your competitor." "To put it simply, coal plants are popping up everywhere in America right now because they are the cheapest way to generate electricity." "Despite the industry's denials about the reality of climate change, almost everyone acknowledges that in the next decade or so, laws that put a cap or quota on CO2 emissions will be implemented in America". CO2 emission regulation will be passed onto the consumer, cheap electricity will be threatened or Blue Light power with its new unified quantum theory will start electricity production.
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