Solution to energy conundrum may be CO2

INDIAN SPRINGS, Calif.--There may be a solution to the energy problem under our feet. Unfortunately, the answer is coal.

America is the Saudi Arabia of coal, said Ira Ehrenpreis, a partner at venture capital firm Technology Partners. The coal in the United States also has less sulfur than geologists find in places like India, but it still produces tons of carbon emissions when it burns.

The solution may be to turn the CO2 waste product into a liquid or a solid and then store it underground, said panelists at the Clean Tech Investor Summit taking place this week here in Southern California.

"Carbon capture is easy," said Dan Arvisu, director of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Capturing the carbon from the smokestacks from coal-burning electrical plants would add only about 20 percent to your electrical bill.

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