watch it: “Clean Coal Air Freshener”

Pretty funny. I have a hard time thinking we'll see that Ad here in West Virginia though.

I'm not very sure if the Reality Coalition wants coal gone, or if they really just want the coal industry to stand by what they say and start finding ways to capture CO2? Anyone who knows the history of Appalachia knows that the coal industry isn't full of the most wonderful people in the world, but they still power half the homes in the country. They're not going anywhere. Now that we have a democrat in the white house, maybe they'll restore some of the EPA standards that the Bush administration cut. Granted, I'm sure if he tries, we'll hear all about how this will hurt businesses and the already failing economy blah blah.

I don't know, I think we've been desensitized to this kind of pseudo-deconstruction by now. It's pretty much just aping similar anti-smoking campaigns and stuff like the Simpsons. Who really believes coal can really be "clean"? Nobody. Which doesn't mean most people really care. Thing is, WE HAVE A LOT OF IT. What coal boosters are really trying to do is undermine the value of oil, because coal-wise the US has a competitive advantage. As long as the effects are invisible except to the poor, it's all fine and dandy.

Oh, and by the time it's not, we're all dead, as in Keynes' long run. Who cares about our children? The country will be bankrupt and underwater by then anyway.

I would love to see this Ad playing in this part of the world where the Coal Industry reigns supreme as a major exporter into Asia running paid ads in support of Clean Coal.

These ads come across like the Tobacco Industry saying smoking is OK because in 20 years we will have found a cure for lung cancer.

While the industry will say CC is a complex problem just waiting for a hi-tec solution, ask a real scientist why Clean Coal will never work and she'll give you an answer any high school kid should understand: Burning coal is an exothermic reaction (releases energy as heat). CC is either an endothermic chemical reaction or a high pressure physics reaction both of which will use at least half the energy released in the first place.

A lot of scientists are saying that by the time we get that desperate we may as well just suck the carbon straight out of the air. This is possible right now - but everything has a price...