China Just Rewired One of History’s Dirtiest Fuels
By Futurist Thomas Frey
For 200 years, the story of coal has been simple and brutal: dig it up, set it on fire, capture the heat. The process powers civilization, but it also chokes it. Every kilowatt of coal-fired electricity comes loaded with carbon dioxide, sulfur, and a long trail of environmental regret.
Now a team of Chinese researchers has done something that sounds almost impossible — they’ve found a way to pull electricity directly from coal without ever striking a match.
This isn’t a cleaner smokestack. It’s a fundamentally different relationship with one of the world’s most abundant, and most controversial, energy sources.
Continue reading… “The Coal Paradox”