Coal converted to liquid fuels and chemicals via FT synthesis has the interesting capacity to produce a net of more than 1 MW/ton of electrical power AND 1 barrel of FT products (40% diesel and 40% gasoline with the remaining 20% as chemicals that are the precursors to a variety of manufacturing processes). This equation actually makes coal a lower carbon producer per unit value than any other fossil resource.

There are (and have been for more than 50 years) ways to convert the CO2 from such a facility to other fuels sources thereby making coal carbon negative while growing the biomass necessary to displace coal from the enrgy mix.

There are currently ~195 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves in the US. While this sounds like quite a bit, the US uses 60 Billion cubic feet/day and will exhaust the current proven reserves within twele years at current usage rates. With increased usage for power production and transportation we will be back on imported fuels within seven years.

The country with the greatest proven reserves of NatGas is Russia, Follwoed by Iran, Qatar, Saudia Arabia, United Arab Emirates and THEN the US (sixth place in proven reserves of both oil and NatGas). How this will get us off imported fuels I still haven’t seen. At least as it stands now more than 50% of our oil imporst come from Canada and Mexico – allies both.

BTU is the proper measure on which to base fuel source choice. The energy content of coal is what makes it such an attractive shoice for a bridge fuel. I have spent forty years working to devise a solution to the pollution and environmental contamination inherent in the use of fossil fuels. This work has led to the developement of a patent pending (US) business process comprised of existing, long proven, technologies in a novel configuration that would make coal carbon neutral, eliminate waste from the conventional lexicon and permit the displacement of fossil fuels over a 15 – 50 year period (dependent on levels of investment and governmental interest).

Please remember that T. Boone Pickens wants you to buy Russion or OPEC NatGas after lining his pockets buying a diminishing US product.

Cheers,

Dan

Yes, the current costs per BTU are probably the decider; but, you aren’t going to be able to use coal to power automobiles anytime soon. The nearest city to me had the first natural gas-powered bus fleet in the country and it’s helped maintain the clean air we enjoy. And has provided a point source for one of the few natgas filling stations in the county.

Even at arbitrary pricing, the cost of operating the few natgas Hondas around town is about 40% lower than the gasoline Hondas they replaced.