"Some think that the only way to clean up coal is to stop burning it altogether. Now a handful of researchers and companies are pursuing a technology to do just that, but one that has the potential of keeping part of the nation's economy coal-fired.
They are skipping the burning step. "Direct carbon" fuel cells efficiently produce electricity straight from the carbon source, which can be anything from coal to coconut shells.
The nascent, laboratory-scale technology has the potential of making electricity by using less than half the coal burned today and sharply reducing the costs of capturing carbon dioxide emissions from the fuel."
Jessica Leber reports for ClimateWire August 26, 2009.
Source: ClimateWire, 08/27/2009
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