The Department of Energy's FutureGen initiative for producing hydrogen from coal will soon be taking shape. The DOE plans to have a nearly emission-free coal plant running by 2012 that will produce hydrogen and electricity.
The DOE says at least 90 percent of the plant’s carbon dioxide will be captured and sequestered underground, and some of that will be injected into oil and gas fields to enhance the recovery process. The $1 billion prototype coal power plant is also receiving funding from eight international companies.
The plant will produce enough electricity to power 275,000 home for just 10 percent more than current production costs.
According to the DOE "The initiative is a response to President Bush's directive to develop a hydrogen economy by drawing upon the best scientific research to address the issue of global climate change."
While it is important to prove that coal can be used to produce clean energy, it is far from what we need to do to reduce greenhouse gases. Perhaps DOE timed the announcement to deflect some of the appropriate criticism about our walking out of the Kyoto climate change talks, but the PR plan didn't work