COAL GETS CLEANER-AND BETTER CONNECTED

摘要

East of Tampa in rural Polk County, Fla., there's a $300 million state-of-the-art power plant that serves as Exhibit A in the case for "clean-coal" technology. The plant combines two technologies never brought together before. In the first, coal is converted into a cleaner, synthetic gas. Next, the heat is recycled. Put together, the technologies make Polk's generators up to 12% more efficient than last-generation plants. And that means more power from less coal. All told, this 250-megawatt showcase plant emits significantly less sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and other pollutants than conventional coal plants.