Clean energy shouldn’t be all or nothing, says MIT professor

When it comes to reducing emissions from coal-fired plants, we can’t allow perfect be the enemy of the good.

Howard Herzog, a professor at MIT, echoed the same sentiment during a panel discussion at the International Conference on Greenhouse Gas Control Technologies in D.C. yesterday.

Said Herzog: “By insisting on the perfect thing, we’re creating the worst thing, which is a stalemate. It doesn’t have to be full [carbon] capture versus no capture.”

From the ClimateWire report:

In their soon-to-be-published research, Herzog and fellow panelist Ashleigh Hildebrand, a graduate student in chemical engineering at MIT, found that grabbing 45 to 65 percent of carbon dioxide from a coal generator, as opposed to the often-proposed 85 to 90 percent, would provide an incentive for investors to get moving on the technology while achieving emissions parity with natural gas.”

The fact is, we'll need to find policies that allow us to meet growing energy demand while reducing emissions from our chief source of baseload power, we should support it.

We agree — an all-or-nothing mentality will get us nowhere.

Comments

[Ron Bengtson]

Energy Independence is within our reach. Let's not forget why we are reaching for it.
http://www.AmericanEnergyIndependence.com

The USA does have the resources and technology to achieve it, but the politics of energy stand in the way.

[Megan at ACCCE]

Ron:

Thanks for your comment. We believe we have the resources and technology to develop advanced clean coal technologies, too.

What's more, clean coal projects can stimulate the economy and provide reliable jobs here at home. 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.

[A. Ashley]

I like the carolers and really appreciate the creativity, but think changing the lyrics of a religious song like "Silent Night" for commercial purposes is inappropriate.