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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.

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Carbon Capture & Sequestration
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.