World
  |
|
Coal future linked to capture of carbon gases: panel
By Rob Lever
AFP
WASHINGTON
Petroleumworld.com 03 15 07A panel of scientists Wednesday urged the United States to speed up efforts to store carbon gases underground to keep coal use viable in the face of growing concerns about global warming.
Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said in a report that coal, the dominant fuel for electricity in the US and China, will remain an attractive energy source if greenhouse emission issues can be resolved.
The report, "The Future of Coal: Options for a Carbon-Constrained World," assumes that some limits will eventually be imposed on carbon dioxide (CO2), most likely in the form of a cap or tax on emissions.
Coal has been blamed by environmentalists as a major culprit in global warming because of its high level of CO2 emissions.
But it supplies about half the electric power needs in the US and two-thirds of energy needs in China, since it costs less than most alternatives and both countries have ample domestic supplies.
The study concluded there are no scientific obstacles to the use of "carbon capture and sequestration," or burying CO2 in underground geologic formations.
But John Deutch, an MIT scientist and former CIA director who co-authored the report, said there has not been enough practical experience with carbon sequestration to make it commercially viable.
The report maintained that the US government-funded "clean coal" programs are vastly underfunded, and called for three to five subsidized coal-fired plants that would capture and store all carbon emissions.
"From the point of view of coal use in a carbon-constrained world, the demonstration of the effective ability to capture and sequester carbon is key to the use of coal going forward," Deutch said.
| Such technology will add about 50 percent to the wholesale cost of electricity and roughly 25 percent to the retail costs, the panel concluded.
This would still allow coal to compete with other energy sources such as nuclear energy and natural gas, assuming that carbon emissions are limited or taxed.
Deutch said if the new technology is implemented on a large scale, it will be possible to stabilize CO2 emissions by the middle of the 21st century.
But he said the short-term outlook is not promising, since China is bringing on line an average of one new coal plant per week with few emission controls, and the United States has yet to commit to a policy of limiting or taxing emissions.
"We believe it's going to be very difficult to get China, India and other emerging markets to make progress" on limiting emissions, Deutch said. But he added there is "no chance" these countries will join any reduction plan if the United States does not.
"As the world's leading energy user and greenhouse gas emitter, the US must take the lead in showing the world CCS (carbon capture and sequestration) can work," Deutch said.
Although the US government heads a public-private partnership called FutureGen that is developing a zero-emissions coal-fired plant, the MIT scientists said the program is insufficient.
"The program, we think, is dramatically underfunded," said Ernest Moniz of MIT, another co-author of the report.
The report notes that carbon sequestration would be a massive undertaking, since the US produces about 1.5 billion tons of CO2 annually.
Capturing and compressing just 60 percent of this to a liquid for geologic sequestration would produce the equivalent of US oil consumption -- which stands at 20 million barrels per day.
David Hawkins of the Natural Resources Defense Council said the report suggests "there is no reason for Congress to delay action to limit global warming emissions."
He said there is no incentive for utilities to capture emissions unless lawmakers "change the rules of the road."
"Under today's laws it is cheaper to release CO2 to the air rather than capturing it."
AFP 14 2052 GMT 03 07
Copyright© 2007 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
Your
feedback is important to us!
We invite all our readers to share with us
their views and comments about this article.
Write to editor@petroleumworld.com
Any
question or suggestions, please write to:
editor@petroleumworld.com
Best
Viewed with IE
5.01+
Windows
NT 4.0, '95, '98 and ME +/ 800x600 pixels