I read a few interesting coal stories on the web today. Thought they might be of interest to environmentalists here.
First up, a rant from a coal CEO:
Consol CEO says coal "whipping boy" for greens
By Steve James, Reuters, Oct 3
The coal industry has become the "whipping boy" of environmentalists who fail to come up with realistic alternatives for energy, the head of one of America's biggest coal producers said.
Brett Harvey, chief executive of Consol Energy Inc ... also suggested a surcharge on electricity use to help pay for development of technology that makes coal burn off less carbon dioxide and converts the fossil fuel into liquids and gas.
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"I think the whole mantra of the environmental groups is: don't waste energy and if you make everything more expensive the theory is you use less. That's the underlying basis of their argument, but it's not the nature of the American public or probably anyone in the world," Harvey said.
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Coal-to-liquid (CTL) technology would require $2 billion to $3 billion in research per year over 10 years, he estimates.
"Probably the best thing to do is take and bill the people who use the coal for power. Tack that as a fee on the use of power for coal and put it in a research institute. It costs the average family about $5 a year and you will have funded the research," he said.
"If you take coal out of the equation and you try to eliminate coal, based on the environment, the people you hurt the most will be poor people," he added.
So let's get this straight. He wants us to believe:
Coal is unfairly picked on by nasty environmentalists.
We shouldn't try to conserve energy or make it more expensive, because it's not the American way.
Oh, but it's fine to add an extra fee to electricity bills - if that fee is spent to find ways to burn even more coal. Billions of dollars for coal-to-liquid research would be very nice, thank you.
This is from the same company that (as the nation's largest coal exporter) is enjoying healthy profits, and is set to lay off more than a hundred workers while its COO exercises stock options at $13 and sells them at $45 the same day.
There's a new campaign targeting the major banks that are funding coal plant projects:
Greens target banks over coal financing
By Steve James, Reuters, Oct 3
An environmental group called on two U.S. banks on Tuesday to stop underwriting a "coal rush" to build 150 new coal-fired power plants, which it said would add to greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change.
The Rainforest Action Network launched a campaign targeting Citigroup and Bank of America Corp because they finance coal company projects that the group charges cause carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and toxic mercury pollution.
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RAN stopped short of calling for a boycott of the banks, but Rebecca Tarbottom, the group's finance campaign director, said Citi and Bank of America could expect "a ruckus in the streets," through protests and possible shareholder action.
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[RAN said] In 2006 Citi financed 200 times more money for "dirty energy" than it did for alternative energy.
Similarly, it said ... "In 2006, Bank of America spent nearly 100 times more money on dirty energy than it did supporting clean energy."
"As long as Citi and Bank of America continue to fund dirty energy, they are holding back the resources needed for clean energy to flourish."
Worthwhile exposure of the hypocricy of greenwashing banks? Or a distraction from the companies far more responsible, those that dig up the coal and burn it? I'm leaning towards the former. Institutions that fund new fossil fuel projects have some responsibility for climate change and can play an important role to address it.
The double-digit annual growth of Chinese coal continues:
China coal output may cross 2.5 bn tonnes in 2007
India Times, Oct 3
BEIJING: China's coal output is likely to exceed 2.5 billion tonnes this year, a senior official said on Wednesday. China will build large coal production bases and restructure small coal mines to raise the output by 400 million tonnes between 2006 and 2010, deputy director of the State Administration of Work Safety, Wang Xianzheng said.
Wang, also head of China National Coal Association, said that China's output has nearly doubled to 2.38 billion tonnes in 2006 from 1.25 billion tonnes in 2000. The average annual growth of 11.5 per cent has helped to meet China's increasing energy demand, he said.
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A total of 1,792 coal miners died in 1,066 mishaps in China, during the first half (January-June) of 2007. In 2006, coal mine accidents killed 4,746 people with an average of 13 deaths per day.
The year 2007 will be the first in which China consumes more than 40% of the world's annual coal production. Given that the latest IEA statistics show US electricity from combustibles is about 5% higher than the same time last year, 2007 may also see the United States share of world coal consumption climb back over 20%. Amongst all the emission "milestones" the Bush administration is eagerly giving the president's policies credit for, I'm guessing they will pass over this one.
Finally, something a little more light-hearted:
Next Big Thing: Coal-Based Solar?
By Jennifer Kho, Greentech Media, Oct 3
As solar-energy fans gathered at the Solar Power 2007 conference in Long Beach, Calif., last week, one man was hitting them up for support for a more controversial technology.
He called it coal-based solar and claimed to represent CoalSol, a non-existent company with a "cutting edge technology" using coal furnaces to supplement solar panels.
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"People say it's not green," Todd told Solar Power 2007 attendees as part of the prank, which was captured on video. "What could be more green than [shoveling coal,] getting back to the Earth?"
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"[T]here's not a lot of comedy in the industry; it's a little dry," Todd said. "It's important to poke some fun."
But oddly enough, Todd said 90 to 95 percent of the people he talked to at the conference believed CoalSol was real.
"They thought it was a bad idea, but they didn't think it was a prank. And some thought it was an OK idea," he said, with a laugh. "Maybe they were being nice or thought they could sell me some solar panels."
Heh heh heh.
Do you know how much coal your electricity supplier burns? Do you know what options you have for buying greener power? The Green Power Network is a great starting point.