EcoGeek Hates Liquid Coal

Over at EcoGeek, Hank Green has a response to the recent MSNBC/Newsweek article about liquefied coal. Coal-to-liquid fuel is very controversial topic because the United States has huge quantities of coal in the ground, and it's relatively cheap to extract, at least compared to most other options. The problem is that coal, like petroleum, is a fossil fuel, which means that burning it (or a derivative) releases huge amounts of carbon into the atmosphere that would otherwise remain locked up tight in the earth. There is also the issue of the damage caused by some mining practices. Aside from being able to supply energy domestically, coal-to-liquid doesn't appear to offer any environmental benefits. Go check out what Hank has to say at the Read link.

[Source: EcoGeek]