Coal can't be clean : leading Australian scientist

Australian of the Year and leading scientist Dr Tim Flannery has questioned the viability of clean coal technology, saying it may be made redundant by cheaper and greener energy resources. He said Australia did not possess the right geological conditions to support the clean coal process, which injected carbon dioxide emissions into the ground rather than releasing them into the atmosphere.

"Globally there has got to be some areas where clean coal will work out, so I think there will always be a coal export industry (for Australia)," he said. "Locally in Australia because of particular geological issues and because of the competition from cleaner and cheaper energy alternatives, I'm not 100 per cent sure clean coal is going to work out for our domestic market."

However, Dr Flannery said Australia possessed the right conditions to make geothermal technology, using underground energy to produce electricity, while solar power was becoming increasingly viable. Dr Flannery agreed with the sentiments of British scientist Dr David King that climate change was a bigger global threat than terrorism and called on the Australian government to act immediately.

(2007-02-18 09:27:57 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

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