51 Ways to Save the Enviroment 47. If You Must Burn Coal, Do it Right

The poor coal plant: not only does it emit environment-damaging compounds, but even the newest (which can cost as much as $3 billion to build) lose more than half the heat generated when the coal is burned. But in co-generation power plants, that excess heat is captured and reused for domestic and industrial heating, nearly doubling a plant�s efficiency. The process is similar to what goes on in your car—think of the engine as a mini cogeneration plant. When the engine runs, it create excess heat while driving the car, and in cold weather, that waste product is used to warm the car.
Cogeneration is a favorite environmental initiative of fossil fuel companies. ExxonMobil owns parts of 85 cogeneration plants in 30 locations; the company estimates that the technology helps it avoid 9 million tons of CO2 a year. In fossil-fueled China, cogeneration is seen as a cutting-edge technology, and enables the country to prevent nearly 100 million tons of CO2 annually.
It�s not the ideal solution, but thermal power will remain the backbone of our electricity grid for the foreseeable future. If we�re going to burn coal and oil, we might as well make sure all that carbon doesn�t go to waste.