Not too bright about coal at the Washington Post

The front-page of the today’s Washington Post Business section features a lengthy article about investors and utilities shunning coal (Coal’s Burnout: Have investors moved on to cleaner energy sources?).

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This photo took up about one-fourth of the front-page: The photo was captioned:

In the battle over coal’s place in U.S. energy policy, President Obama hopes to prod utilities and manufacturers to switch to natural gas to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Sadly, that is not a photo of coal; it is charcoal. And charcoal is not coal. Not even close. This particular charcoal was obviously made from trees. It was not mined. It is not the same substance that provides nearly one-half of our electricity. You may remember when, in March 2008, the Washington Post ran the image below of a hazy Beijing, attributing the haze to carbon dioxide — even though CO2 is invisible and plays no role in the formation of smog. It kind of makes you wonder about the Post‘s opposition to coal since it seems to know little about it. Memo to the Washington Post: The photo below is of the fruit known as grapes; but that does not mean they are grapefruit. (h/t Johnny Lucid)