Archive for March, 2008

A Challenge For Equal Time

                                    

The energy industry is often characterized as being at odds with
environmentalists. But in fact we’re all environmentalists. (We’ve yet
to come across someone who is against the environment.)

We’re also in favor of affordable and reliable electricity, of course.
It would be nice to discuss the issues, calmly and rationally, with
environmentalists.

A few weeks ago we challenged the major environmental groups to an “equal-time discussion” on common themes that intersect the energy & environmental world.

No name calling or mud-slinging, just a straightforward debate relying
on accepted facts. We proposed starting with this question: “How do we meet America’s growing energy needs while addressing the climate change issue?”

The rules would be that each side could make its case in 1,000 words
and must commit to keeping both essays on its site for at least 21 days
and promote the discussion on its home page for at least 10 days.

Are environmental groups up for a fair and honest debate where both sides are heard?

I guess not.

We sent our challenge to five groups: the Sierra Club, Environmental
Defense Fund, League of Conservation Voters, Center for Biological
Diversity and Friends of the Earth.

None were interested.

What does that say about the efforts of those groups to have a genuine debate on the issues?

                               

28 March 2008, 3:56 pm | Posted in Carbon Capture | No comments »
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Thoughts About Meeting Future Energy Demand

                                    

The Energy Information Administration recently stated that electricity
use would grow by 1.1 percent per year through 2030 – down from the 1.5
percent per year increase it predicted last year. Some anti-coal
activists have used this data – along with some fuzzy math – to
speculate that America won’t need new coal-based power plants in the
future.

They couldn’t be more wrong.

Granted, gains in energy efficiency may be slightly changing the slope
of the demand curve and we see that in the EIA forecasts. But that
said, by all accounts America’s electricity demands are increasing.
Moreover, new advanced coal-based power plants can replace older, less
efficient units when those plants are due to be taken out of operation.

Meeting America’s future electricity needs will include a variety of
fuel resources … including coal. Coal is a domestically-abundant energy
resource, and as we’ve stated on this site before, fuels like solar and wind are not replacements for coal.

So the question isn’t whether we’ll use coal (we will), the question is HOW we’ll use coal (and the answer there is cleanly!).

For that reason, we need to be sure we keep putting dollars into
funding clean coal technology research. With the right investments in
technology, coal will help power America through the 21st century and
it will do so with what we term ultra-low emissions (zero emissions of
pollutants regulated by federal and state clean air laws and the
capture and storage of CO2).

That is a pretty big goal, but that is what we mean when we say that this industry has made a commitment to clean.

                               

25 March 2008, 3:50 pm | Posted in Carbon Capture | 2 comments »
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Using Coal To Neutralize National Security Threats

Over the weekend, I noticed a story about the U.S. military putting forward a plan to wean itself from foreign fuel by turning to coal.

The Air Force realizes that they could “help neutralize a national
security threat by tapping into the country’s abundant coal reserves.”

It makes sense, of course, to have the U.S. military use a
domestically abundant resource rather than relying on politically
volatile regions for the fuel to power our own fleet.

I don’t talk much about transportation fuels, but with high gasoline
prices on everyone’s mind, it’s worth joining the discussion about
whether the future of automobiles is electric cars or vehicles that run
on hydrogen.

If the nation decides to move to electric cars, that will mean a
need for increased investment in more clean coal plants. After all,
half of our electricity comes from coal — and we’ll need coal even more
it if we are plugging in our cars to the electricity grid (and any
residual increase in emissions from the increased production of
electricity would be more than offset by the emissions reductions in
the transportation sector).

As hydrogen vehicles also catch on, coal can provide a clean solution
there too. Using advanced technologies, we will be able to use coal to
produce electricity with hydrogen being a beneficial byproduct.

As I’ve said many times, we need to change our way of thinking if we
want to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Knowing that technology
will allow us to use coal to produce electricity and produce hydrogen
for things like hydrogen fuel cells is more relevant now than ever.

24 March 2008, 3:49 pm | Posted in FutureGen | No comments »
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