I have a 1957 edition of "Handbook of Chemistry and Physics", for you coal people. In that book is a section on the construction of 'clean' coal plants, involving several methods of making the burn clean, air scrubbers, preheating, pulverizing and so on. In the end, in 1957, coal fired plants could be made quite clean. However, that wouldn't fit the narrative. Remember, this was a scientific reference book, onion skin, small print, several thousand pages.

Also know that there are numerous "impossible" methods to make motors, generators and such that are COP>1, such as homopolars (go back to the original patents in the 1800s, specifically Tesla's patent) and pulse motors.

There is no reason anyone should have to pay electric bills.