Clean Coal Technology

We’re Committed to a Clean Energy Future With Coal

Perhaps Energy Secretary Steven Chu said it best when he said:

"Charting a path toward clean coal is essential to achieving our goals of providing clean energy, creating American jobs, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It will also help position the United States as a leader in the global clean energy race."

We share the Obama administration’s commitment. As an industry, we are committed to a clean energy future with coal – and that future involves the use of advanced technologies to further reduce emissions including the capture and safe storage of CO2.

We have a long history of deploying clean coal technologies to reduce air emissions – while at the same time providing affordable, reliable electricity to meet growing energy needs.

Because of those continued investments in clean coal technology, new coal plants built today have greater than 90 percent removal for SO₂, NO_x and mercury. It’s that same innovation in technology that the industry is using to bring another new generation of advanced clean coal technologies to the marketplace as a cost-effective solution to meeting climate change concerns.

Today, coal-based electricity companies are working with the federal government, states, academia and private labs to develop, demonstrate and deploy the next generation of advanced technologies that will make it possible to reduce emissions to near-zero levels and capture and store greenhouse gases. To learn more about these cutting-edge technologies, check out our clean coal technology glossary.

Continued innovations require funding, but studies show we’ll see a return on our investments. An American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity-funded study (PDF) entitled “DOE Clean Coal Technology Programs Offer Highest Return on Investment” reports that by 2020, American taxpayers will see a return of $13 for every dollar the government invests in these technologies.