Archive for November, 2010

Secretary Chu: Clean Coal Must Be Part Of Plan To Accelerate Innovations In Clean Energy

Yesterday, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu delivered a speech to the National Press Club in Washington, DC, urging more investments in energy research and development so that we can both compete and work with other countries, like China, on advanced clean energy technologies. Chu calls this a “Sputnik Moment” for the United States, a critical point where the public and private sectors must work together to provide clean and abundant sources of energy to power our economy.

Chu makes three important points:

  • For the past two decades, China has successfully developed clean coal technologies with supercritical and ultra-supercritical coal-fueled power plants, and has successfully commercialized them on a very large scale.
  • This success is why the Department of Energy is investing in methods to make advanced clean coal technologies, like carbon capture and storage, more affordable so that they can also be successfully commercialized.
  • All of this depends on a long term, bipartisan energy policy and continued investment into energy research and development.

Watch Chu make these three very important points in this video:

Secretary Chu is right: “Wealth creation is driven by innovation.” And the innovations that have been made in clean coal technologies by the coal-based electricity industry of the past few decades gives us a great foundation for the industry to develop tomorrow’s innovations in carbon capture and storage, technologies that can use one of our most abundant and affordable sources of energy as a part of this country’s clean energy future.

30 November 2010, 12:49 pm | Posted in ACCCE News, Carbon Capture, Clean Coal, Energy Independence, Energy Issues, Jobs, Policy and Legislation, Science, Technology, Videos | No comments »

Bipartisanship on Energy Can Happen Sooner Rather than Later

With the election over and Congress in the middle of a lame duck session, there are many economic and fiscal issues on the table for members of the House and Senate to consider. One issue that directly ties into America’s economic security can bring Democrats and Republicans together, even in this lame duck session: the issue of investing in our energy security and advanced clean coal technologies.

ACCCE on Flickr
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) has sponsored legislation to make sure that regulations Environmental Protection Agency doesn’t hamper the use of coal as a source of baseload power and the development of clean coal technologies. As reported by today’s Politico Morning Energy:

Rockefeller said he’d still like to get a two-year timeout on the EPA regulations “because it gives CCS a little bit more time to make a beachhead, and that’s what gets rid of 90 to 95 percent of carbon.” … Rockefeller said CCS would be just fine without any limits. “We already have two massive CCS projects in our state, mostly state and locally funded, corporate funding. … And you see, you don’t have to answer that question. You just have to show there’s a way to make coal totally clean. Ninety-five percent is cleaner than nuclear. You have to be able to show that. So that’s my basic reason for it.”

Rockefeller’s counterpart, newly elected and sworn-in Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) echoed his senior senator:

“Energy is energy, you gotta have energy,” [Manchin] said yesterday. “And what’s producing the most energy today at the cheapest price?” POLITICO guessed coal. “You got it.” he said. Clean coal “is the only way the country can move forward.”

Republicans want to move quickly on bipartisan legislation that would move enhance our energy security. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) again touted clean coal technologies as an area of agreement between his party and President Obama in a post for The Hill’s Congress Blog:

When we return from the Thanksgiving break, Republican and Democrat leaders will have the opportunity to discuss priorities with the president in a meeting at the White House. I’m looking forward to that meeting, and to the opportunity to share with the president, again, the areas where we agree … I agree with the president that we should increase our exploration of clean coal technology and nuclear energy.

And the fact remains that investments in clean coal technologies not only provide economic, energy and environmental security. They also provide a great return on investment for taxpayers: for every $1 government invests in these technologies, the American people see $13 in benefits. We’re glad to see more bipartisan agreement on coal-based electricity and we look forward to a growing partnership between the public and private sector that’s already making coal a part of our clean energy future.

18 November 2010, 12:34 pm | Posted in ACCCE News, Carbon Capture, Clean Coal, Current Affairs, Energy Independence, Energy Issues, Jobs, Policy and Legislation, Science, Technology | No comments »

Where’s the “Real Progress” on Advanced Clean Coal Tech? The Atlantic’s Editor-in-Chief Explains

It seems like almost every week there’s news about U.S. and Chinese advancements in clean coal technologies. As two of the largest economies in the world, our countries have formed a strong partnership to develop these technologies so we can enjoy the economic benefits of a reliable, affordable energy base while reducing emissions. This relationship between America and China is growing stronger, especially with yesterday’s announcement that the U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center has now been put into operation with more than $150 million in initial funds. This comes on the heels of Energy Secretary Steven Chu’s visit to the largest power plant in Shanghai yesterday, which is using a demonstration carbon capture facility to trap and use carbon dioxide emissions for commercial use.

ACCCE_Shanghai

Today on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” James Bennet, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, discussed the fact that coal accounts for nearly half of America’s power and that there’s “real progress” on advanced clean coal technologies like carbon capture and storage, being developed here and in China, allowing power plants to reduce emissions while using one of the world’s most reliable sources of energy.

The story is explained in depth in The Atlantic’s cover story this month, by James Fallows. Fallows outlines coal’s importance in securing a future in which our energy is clean, sustainable and affordable. According to him, coal can and must be used through clean coal technologies if we are to have any hope of achieving energy and environmental security:

“[T]wo ideas that underlie the term [clean coal] are taken with complete seriousness by businesses, scientists, and government officials in China and America, and are the basis of the most extensive cooperation now under way between the countries on climate issues. One is that coal can be used in less damaging, more sustainable ways that it is now. The other is that it must be used in those ways, because there is no plausible other way to meet what will be, absent an economic or social cataclysm, the world’s unavoidable energy demands.”

If you’re a long-time reader of Behind the Plug, you know that with industry and government’s investments, capital and human resources, we are reaching toward commercial-scale carbon capture and storage technologies. People like Dan Connell of Consol Energy are implementing technology that will help reduce emissions, while securing affordable energy and good jobs for our children and grandchildren.

17 November 2010, 2:33 pm | Posted in ACCCE News, Carbon Capture, Clean Coal, Current Affairs, Policy and Legislation, Science, Technology, Videos | No comments »

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