You are here

Home » Coal

Coal

As of 2009, coal accounts for 21% of the United States' primary energy flow.

As of 2009, coal accounts for 21% of the United States' primary energy flow.

Subtopics 
Carbon Capture & Sequestration
CO2 Capture and Storage Project, Education and Training Center Launched in Decatur, Illinois
The new National Sequestration Education Center (NSEC) is a 15,000 square-foot sustainably designed center that will contain classrooms and training and laboratory facilities. | Photo courtesy of Richland Community College.

One of the nation’s largest carbon capture and storage endeavors includes an education center for students and local residents.

Utility to Purchase Low-Carbon Power from Innovative Clean Coal Plant
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory demonstrated coal gasification in large-scale field experiments at the Rocky Mountain Test Facility (above) near Hanna, Wyoming. Coal gasification and sequestration of the carbon dioxide produced are among the technologies being used in the Texas Clean Energy Project. | Photo courtesy of <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">llnlphotos</a>.

An innovative clean coal demonstration project in Texas, supported by the Office of Fossil Energy, recently took a big step forward.

Carbon Capture Innovation: Making an IMPACCT on Coal
The ICES team from Alliant Techsystems and ACENT Laboratories (L to R): Fred Gregory, Andy Robertson, Tony Castrogiovanni, Florin Girlea, Vincenzo Verrelli, Bon Calayag, Vladimir Balepin, Kirk Featherstone. | Courtesy of the ICES team.

As the largest domestically-produced source of energy here in the U.S., coal is used to generate about half of our nation’s electricity. So how can we make traditional energy sources like coal cleaner and safer for all Americans?

Carbon Capture and Storage Forum Round-Up
Sec. Chu speaks about carbon capture and sequestration. | Energy Department Photo

Yesterday, Secretary Chu joined Senator Jay Rockefeller at the University of Charleston in West Virginia for a forum on the future of coal and the case for carbon capture and storage. We were at the event, relaying some of the highlights live via Twitter so that people across the nation could follow along and weigh in on the discussion.

Cleaning Up Coal
Pete McGrail, a Laboratory Fellow at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, is part of a team studying basalts to determine how carbon dioxide can be safely and permanently stored in these massive, deep underground rock formations. | Photo courtesy of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

How we're making coal a better energy source than it used to be.