The Potential of Clean Coal Technology in Curbing Carbon Emissions

By Adi Permana

Editor Adi Permana


BANDUNG, itb.ac.id—The Head of ITB New and Renewable Energy Research Center, Dr. Yuli Setyo Indartono, had stated Indonesia's optimism in the utilization of NRE (New and Renewable Energy).

Indonesia has an abundant prospect of NRE. Aside from other renewable energy like solar and water, he revealed that coal in the application of clean technology can reduce carbon emissions significantly.

"Leaving out coal completely is unnecessary without further innovation," Dr. Yuli mentioned in an interview with Surgical Editorial Media Indonesia on Friday, 28 October 2022. The clean coal technology he talked about is the removal of flue gas and the implementation of gasification.

He explained that the emitted carbon is often ignored when calculating the overall energy source economy. Renewable energy will reduce carbon dioxide output to the point of reaching carbon neutrality; if managed wisely, such potential can be the solution to the rise of fuel prices.

Regarding the factors that hinder NRE application in Indonesia, Dr. Yuli showed the average use of global fossil energy which is still in the range of 83%. According to him, this happens due to coal, petroleum and natural gas technologies existing long enough that their technology is at its peak with low expense.

“Since NRE is a fairly new technology, high investment and technological developments are required," he added. Thus, special support and incentives on a massive scale from the government is encouraged.

Dr. Yuli expressed his hopes for the energy transition agenda at the 17th G20 Summit in Bali, 15-16 November 2020. "Hopefully, the leaders of each nation can reach an agreement in increasing the use of NRE in their respective countries."

Reporter: Sekar Dianwidi Bisowarno (Bioengineering, 2019)
Translator: Ruth Nathania (Environmental Engineering, 2019)