When people argue that the use of coal and other fossil fuels is still cheaper than renewable energy they usually (and conveniently) fail to mention the external costs of fossil fuels that aren't factored into the price of burning of these dirty fuels.

On the Wall Street Journal's Environment Capital blog today there's a great post explaining how:

"... fossil fuels remain cheaper because not all their costs are tallied—and that means pollution. Traditional power plants spew particulates into the air as well as carbon dioxide, but historically the cost of that pollution was not included in the pricetag for, say, operating a coal-fired plant."

Read the entire WSJ post here:  AC/DC: What’s the True Cost of Electricity?

Last night, I saw a great new television ad that told the truth about clean coal - that is, it emphasized that clean coal does not exist. The ad was launched by Al Gore's new "Reality Campaign", which is an effort by multiple environmental groups to expose the myth of clean coal.

It's 2008. You're a tax-paying American. Do you know where your greenbacks are going?

Here's the dirt - er, coal dust.

So, have you heard about Climate Camp? It's a name that's making news, and if you happen to be on the British side of the pond, you can join up activists from all walks of life to raise awareness about that dirty, dirty energy source known as coal. Greenpeace UK tells us:

Greetings from the Land Of Enchantment! It's been a pretty hot summer here in New Mexico. The federal government has just declared most of our counties drought disaster areas. Yes, we're definitely feeling the effects of global warming here in the American Southwest.

Over at the Clean Coal Front Group Soapbox (er, blog), ACCCE Vice President of Communications Joe Lucas has a new post entitled:

All New Technologies Take Time to Develop

Plans for a $4 billion coal to liquid fuel plant in Kentucky have been unveiled today, spelling a new low-point in the US addiction to dirty energy.

The idea of converting coal to liquid fuel (known as coal-to-liquids or CTL) is not new.

Mark your calendars! On Thursday, July 17, 2008, the coal industry front group "American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity" (ACCCE) is co-sponsoring a conference in Hope, Arkansas.

From the press release:

As Ross Gelbspan blogged today, the Group of Eight (G-8) has pledged to reduce carbon emissions by 50% by 2050. It makes for great headlines, but the small print shows several things: they failed to set a short term emissions reduction goal, and a large part of their Grand Forty-Two Year Plan is to go "low-carbon" by - you guessed it - using carbon capture and sequestration, also known as the "clean coal" pipe dream.