Keith Addison wrote: KA> President Bush says the U.S. will pursue its own policy of voluntary KA> carbon reductions and conduct research into technologies like "carbon KA> sequestration" -- burying CO2 rather than emitting it.
The Bushies argue that there isn't a global warming problem, and that America is doing more to address it than any other country. Sequestration is a no-brainer. There is no certainty that the CO2 would remain under water or wherever else it was put. Pumping CO2 into the deep ocean or underground caverns or whatever would require a considerable energy input, which means more fossil fuels would need to be burned per unit of electricity provided, which means electricity would become much more expensive. Some might argue that this wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, but it would also accelerate fossil fuel depletion. I have a lot of respect for Al Gore but I saw a video of a talk he gave, in which he described sequestration as "the killer app", which was a great disappointment. There are much better ways to reduce emisssions. Regards David KA> To do that, KA> the U.S. Department of Energy hopes to develop new technologies by KA> 2012 that would economically capture the greenhouse gas before it KA> leaves the power plant. KA> One approach -- called Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) KA> technology -- aims to siphon off CO2 before it's sent up the stack. KA> The largest U.S. power company, American Electric Power in Columbus, KA> Ohio, plans to build at least one commercial IGCC plant by 2010. KA> Another coal-burning power company, Cinergy, in Cincinnati, this KA> month said it also would build an IGCC plant. KA> But funding for a key billion-dollar federal IGCC experimental KA> program called FutureGen is lagging. And unless the U.S. sets a limit KA> on CO2 emissions that creates a market for carbon-reducing KA> technology, there is little financial incentive to invest in such KA> technology, experts say. As a result, the technology appears unlikely KA> to be deployed in time to make much difference in the coming surge of KA> power-plant construction. KA> Without such technology, the impact on climate by the new coal plants KA> would be significant, though not entirely unanticipated. They would KA> boost CO2 emissions from fossil fuels by about 14 percent by 2012, KA> Schmidt estimates. That's within the 1 to 2 percent annual range for KA> CO2 growth expected in "high-growth" scenarios put forward by climate KA> scientists. But it does not fall into the "maximum" scenario they use KA> to evaluate the worst-case impact of greenhouse gases. KA> The power of six KA> "The point is that a relatively small number of countries holds the KA> fate of the planet in their hands in terms of climate change," says KA> David Hawkins, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council's KA> climate center. "If the five or six countries building all these KA> power plants were to come together to develop a strategy for carbon KA> capture applied to coal, it would be a huge step toward cutting KA> global warming." KA> Energy security is one factor driving the shift. With its 250-year KA> supply of coal, the U.S. is often called the "Saudi Arabia of coal." KA> China, with similarly huge reserves, is even planning to convert coal KA> into synthetic fuel for cars -- even though such processes typically KA> produce large amounts of greenhouse gases. KA> Coal's low price has been a powerful incentive, too. Chinese KA> authorities are pushing for cleaner power. But gas pipelines in China KA> aren't fully utilized because of that fuel's higher cost, experts KA> say. And in the U.S., utility companies are shifting focus from KA> natural gas to coal instead. KA> "There has been an abrupt about-face," says Robert McIlvaine, who KA> heads his own Northfield, Ill., information company that tracks the KA> construction of coal power plants globally. "Utilities that would not KA> consider a coal-fired plant a year or two ago are now moving forward KA> with coal-fired projects." KA> With natural gas prices expected to continue rising, 58 other nations KA> have 340 new coal-fired plants in various stages of development. They KA> are expected to go online in a decade or so. Malaysia, Japan, KA> Indonesia, Thailand, and Turkey are all planning significant new KA> coal- fired power additions. Germany also plans to build eight coal KA> plants with 6,000 megawatts capacity. KA> But China is the key. "The Chinese will surpass the coal-fired KA> generating capacity and the CO2 emissions of the U.S. in the next KA> couple of years," Mr. McIlvaine says. KA> Hit by blackouts and power restrictions for 18 months, China has been KA> scrambling to relieve that pressure. Scores of unauthorized power KA> projects about which little is known have sprouted nationwide -- KA> along with hundreds of official projects, McIlvaine says. Because of KA> this, even careful estimates could be low, both he and Bergesen say. KA> "Environmental optimists were assuming the world was going to switch KA> to gas, but when you're short of gas you use your own coal," says KA> Philip Andrews-Speed, a China energy expert at the University of KA> Dundee, in Scotland. "What you're seeing with China and the others is KA> the cheapness and security of coal just overwhelming the desire to be KA> clean." KA> Copyright 2007 The Christian Science Monitor KA> _______________________________________________ KA> Biofuel mailing list KA> Biofuel@sustainablelists.org KA> http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org KA> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: KA> http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html KA> Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): KA> http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
