“Clean Coal (Say WATT?) – Our Energy Future“. More Christmas Guest pudding from Ira Glickstein. He’s excited that The Atlantic apparently now “supports coal”. James Fallows’ latest article is Why the Future of Clean Energy is Dirty Coal. He suggests that electricity can be produced by redesigning coal power plants to reduce their carbon emissions. Doesn’t seem like quite the “warmist” reversal Ira wants to proclaim.

“No coal ever!” only exists in the make believe world where environmentalists want us to go back to living in caves. In the real world environmentalists want to move as fast as possible to cleaner non-carbon energy sources, not stop energy usage.

Coal is central to current power generation in many places, so the more we can improve its utilization the better. But there’s no “clean” version, and it is not “cheap”. Extracting it damages the environment and so does burning it. China is probably the world’s largest consumer of coal power, but they are also the most active in pursuing “alternative” energy.

So… What were your saying Ira? Oh, you prefer direct carbon taxes to “cap-and-trade”. Me too. Bet you Anthony’s readers don’t like either.