Archive for November, 2008

Clean coal technology made in… China?

The U.S. is not the only player involved in pushing the envelop on advanced clean coal technologies to capture and store carbon.

China is involved in a project like the FutureGen project here in the U.S., a public-private partnership to build a near zero-emissions coal-fueled power plant.

(Click here for the latest on FutureGen's status.)

The Chinese project — known as GreenGen — is larger in scale then the proposed FutureGen project, and it promises to show continued progress on advancing technologies that will ensure that coal remains a viable energy option for meeting growing energy demand even as we move to enact measures to reduce greenhous gas emissions.

As we've learned, there is no word in the Chineese language for NIMBY (not in my backyard), so I suspect that it will be full-speed ahead for the GreenGen project. That said, I'm hopeful that as a country, we move aggressively in achieving the goal set by the incoming Obama administration to have at least five full commercial-scale carbon capture and storage projects deployed in the U.S. over the next several years.

If we fail to do that, the technologies that we use here at home to capture and store CO2 could come with a "made in China" logo. While I'm pleased to see that China is taking such a strong leadership position, it would be a shame to see us miss out on the opportunity to export U.S. developed technologies abroad.

See below as Fred Palmer, senior vice president at Peabody Energy, discusses the plans for GreenGen:

28 November 2008, 2:35 pm | Posted in Videos | No comments »

Clean coal technology to the economic rescue

Coal has long been an economic boon for our nation, and with constantly evolving clean coal technologies, it will continue to play a vital role.

With the right investments in clean coal technology, the United States would have an opportunity to capture a growing share of the export market for coal-based fuel products that enhance efficiency and environmental performance to countries around the world.

After all, global demand for power generating technologies and services is anticipated to create a $480 billion export market over the next three decades and support more than 600,000 jobs in the U.S. power-equipment industry.

These jobs are getting greener every day. In fact, there is over $6 billion in clean coal research underway right now in 41 states — even ones not normally associated with coal production.

Click here to find a clean coal technology project near you.

25 November 2008, 4:24 pm | Posted in Affordability | 5 comments »

Railroads are America’s energy pipeline










It is hard to think about America's freight railroad
industry as an energy pipeline — but in fact that is partly what it is.

In addition to carrying millions of tons of frieght each year, America's
railroads are also responsible for carrying coal from the mines to the power
plants.

And they do it efficiently and safely.

Jim Young, chairman of the board with Union Pacific Corporation recently had a chance to tell us about the rail industry's role in meeting America's future energy needs.

Take a look for yourself:

24 November 2008, 3:10 am | Posted in Videos | No comments »

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