Duke Energy on Clean Coal: “We have not invested any dollars..”
Susanna Murley on April 27th, 2009Duke Energy’s CEO said on 60 Minutes last night that they haven’t invested any money in clean coal, despite seeing a need for reducing global warming emissions by utilities.
Carbon capture and sequestration may not be the most viable option in addressing climate change– given the slow pace currently with development and the costs. By some estimates, it could take utilities hundreds of billions to trillions of dollars by 2050 to implement the technology. What isn’t explored though is that we really don’t need coal to move to a clean economy.
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In order to meet the emission reduction goals that the science demands, climate scientist James Hansen asserts:
We are going to have to phase out emissions from coal within the next 20 years if we hope to prevent climate disasters…not only in this country, but in the world. This is not yet understood. We are going to have to have a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants within the next few years and phase out the existing ones over the next 20 years or so if we have to preserve the climate like the one that has existed the last several thousand years.
So how do we move to a clean energy economy? As David Roberts over at Grist reports, the omission is part of a larger problem of leaving the question unanswered despite a plethora of plans that show how we are going to move to a clean energy economy.
The science of global warming is clear: we need drastic reductions in carbon emissions by 2050, with or without coal.
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There is no such thing as clean coal. Sequestration is a cheap pipe dream that will never work. Energy companies that burn coal, oil, gas — must convert to solar, wind, wave, geothermal. Our federal government should be leading the way to clean sustainable energy requirements today. We know Energy Czar Steven Chu knows the repercussions of our inaction on global warming. Let's ask him to please get that message to the president. Climate change and global warming will trump every single other problem in the world today if we do not solve it now.
The search for ways to reduce carbon emissions has led to government grant money for schemes ranging from promising to wacky. Recognizing that there is no currently viable replacement for fossil fuels, with the possible exception of nuclear power, the US and other countries with large coal deposits are desperately looking for ways to continue burning coal without incurring the wrath of nature or the IPCC. Clear evidence of the seriousness of this effort is evident in this week's special edition of Science, dedicated to carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology.
http://theresilientearth.com/?q=content/serious-b...