Doing away with Coal Plants a viable option?

Even though the future of Renewable Energy in India is bright, coal will still be used for generation of power and stopping it altogether may be impractical. There are a large number of plants that run on coal and more are under construction. The carbon emissions due to the combustion of coal are a major environmental concern but rather than doing away with coal plants steps should be taken to optimize power generation from coal. The following steps can be taken to improve and clean up coal combustion:

• Evaluating and restructuring old plants so as to increase their efficiency.
• Coal utilization is the key. Techniques should be adopted which use less coal to generate more output. This could reduce coal usage by 15 percent and help reduce other pollutants.
• Reducing local environmental impacts especially regarding water use, particulate emissions and treatment of waste ash.
• Innovative technique should be used to work with Indian coal (high ash content).
• These steps must be complemented by state-of-the-art technology, policy support and financing from the government.

Hydro-generated power and power from gas are not enough to feed the energy requirements of this country. Doing away with coal plants completely is not a viable option in the current scenario but we must definitely look at ways to reduce environmental pollution caused by carbon emissions.