The New York Times’ Matthew Wald had an interesting piece yesterday about the Energy Dept. funding “carbon capture” — a developing process where carbon dioxide emissions that cause global warming are not released into the air during energy production. The capture of carbon before it enters the atmosphere is best-known as the idea behind “clean coal” power plants. In theory, by capturing CO2 and sequestering it into the ground, coal-fired power plants can continue to reign as the producer of 1/2 of America’s electric power even after CO2 regulation.

Wald reports, though, that it might be much cheaper for the Energy Dept. to fund “clean natural gas” or “clean oil refineries” — not great news to the powerful coal industry. The idea behind the Energy Dept. grants ($44 million of which were rewarded last month) is that they will suss out what clean energy technology works and what either doesn’t or is too expensive to pursue.

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