I saw a GE advertisement on TV last night showing someone dressed up in a costume--a piece of coal. At first as he walked down the street, the people around him looked at him like he was a freak. Yet, they soon started following him and the crowd grew further. The "coal" then had a following going up a steep hill. The ad then said that GE's "cleaner coal" technology, was something "everyone can get behind."

I was glad to see that GE labels the technology "cleaner coal" rather than the "clean coal" misnomer. There is a subtantial difference in my opinion between the two phrases. Yet, I was taken aback with the 'everyone can get behind' cleaner coal talk. This is hardly the case, since we still have the coal ash disposal problem, as well as the more pressing issue of global warming. The ad said nothing as to whether GE's technology has any carbon sequestration component. Even if it does, the latter is pretty experimental at this juncture. Although this development on GE's part may end up leading to coal-produced power being cleaner than traditional coal plants (which is a welcome change), these ads seem to delude the public into thinking that this technology is a pancea of some sort--sure to cure all the ills of using coal for electricity. We need to remember that using fossil fuels for power is a trade-off no matter what the controls used. There is always pollution and destructive practices involved in the mining of the coal and with the use of the coal to make the power. Given coal's high carbon content, the biggest problem with the cleaner coal technology seems to be the fact that we will continue to exacerbate global warming. We cannot afford to kid ourselves into thinking that we can instantly convert coal into a clean energy source that poses no environmental concerns. This is a dose of reality that perhaps needs to be added to the message being sent by GE.