[TheRealThing]

There is not much meat to this story. Don't assume that this was not just another case of $5 million of our money getting flushed down the drain. Aside from mentioning that it would be "expensive" to retrofit existing power plants to use the new technology, the article is devoid of any details about the financial viability of the new technology. For all we know, the new process might use gold to extract energy from coal.

Government-funded researchers' primary concern is to qualify for additional funding. Providing sketchy details in press releases that suggest the end of all of mankind's worries is within their grasp - but will require more research to attain, is part of the process. 15 years and $5 million is long enough and money enough to expect a few more details.

Agreed. And yet, it doesn't seem likely the process is any more of a stretch than bio fuels derived from algea technology. That process, though cited time and again as imminently viable, requires much in the way of process equipment to get little in the way of usable product. It will be interesting to see if anything ever comes of this story but, even if it is another dead end, we already have the necessary developed technology to burn coal cleanly enough so as not to harm the environment. In any event, doing away with coal makes no sense at all due to the fact there is absolutely nothing other than natural gas in the wings to replace it with. By the time the EPA gets through forcing industry to run through all the gas reserves in lieu of burning coal, what are homeowners going to heat with?