Carbon Offsets

IGCC systems are being widely touted as a clean coal technology capable of curbing emissions sufficiently to continue to allow coal rich economies such as the US, China and Australia to continue to burn the fuel.

Please consider this an open questionnaire... short answers are just fine!

Completely clean coal burning is possible! No CO2, no NOx, no SOx, no Hg(Mercury), no Cl, As, Te, etc... nothing at all, not even H2O (from combustion)!

The system would take in coal, air, and cooling water. The products would be electricity, warmer water, the filtered nitrogen from the air, and clean compressed CO2, and some glassy sintered coal ashes.

I'd like to get the groups' input on the concept of burning coal and or biomass together in various mixtures.

The industry refers to it as "sweetening" the biomass when 5%-10% coal is added to the fuel stream consisting on material like switch grass, corn stover, and other crop by-products.

I'd like to sample some opinions on the practice. Thanks

1) Does this still fit your preception of renewable energy?

2) Does it advance the cause of renewable energy?

3) Is it a sell-out to the coal industry?

My husband and I are proud owners of TerraPasses for our cars. We bought them about 4 months ago, and plan to keep buying them every year. I am considering this as our birthday gift to each other each year.

I even have the stickers on my car -- something I usually do not do. I felt a bit funny the first time I drove the car with the blue bumpersticker saying "This Car's CO2 Balanced by TerraPpass" -- but, soon, I didn't mind. I am not the type of person who wears my beliefs on my sleeve, or bumper, but this is too important to share. so, I officially have my first bumpersticker.

carbon offsets will make older dirty power like coal very expensive. It is already quite expensive but the costs are hidden and it has goverment subsidies. This topic will cover dirty old fashioned coal. Many people don't know about all the pollution this type of fuel makes. Some also don't know the USA still makes over 50% of our electricity using this fuel.

Some still think it's cheap and don't realize it gets big subsidies and that is why many power companies still use it so much. Water is also very valuable and coal uses a lot of water.

Hi all,

I am excited to be the first person to write in this forum. Carbon offsetting is a topic that really interests me - both because it is part of my business and because I find the debate behind the voluntary market fascinating.