MODERN TIMES
Art Hobson
ahobson@uark.edu
NWA Times 20 Jan 2007
New
Coal Plants: A Looming Catastrophe
The
coal industry likes to tout its new Òclean coalÓ technology and itÕs true that
coal-fired electrical generating plants are cleaner than they used to be. But the largest and dirtiest pollution
hasnÕt been cleaned up at all:
coal plants still emit 100 percent of their carbon dioxide (CO2).
Carbon
dioxide is not just a small by-product; itÕs the primary product of coal
combustion. A large plant consumes
some 10,000 tons of coal per day and emits over 30,000 tons of CO2—more
than three times the weight of the coal itself. ThatÕs a lot of carbon. CO2 emissions from coal have grown by 24 percent since 1990,
and are responsible for one-third of all U.S. CO2 emissions. So coal is a huge polluter, and getting
worse.
As
practically everybody knows by now, CO2 is the main Ògreenhouse gasÓ causing
global warming. According to the
overwhelming scientific consensus, global warming is happening now, the planet
has already warmed by over 1 degree Fahrenheit, and the consequences are
serious and getting worse. The
Kyoto agreement calls for industrialized nations to reduce emissions by 7
percent below 1990 levels by 2012; Europe is moving toward this goal and plans
to emit 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. Although California recently announced plans to reduce
emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, the U.S. already emits 13 percent above 1990
levels and the world emits 26 percent above 1990 levels. During the industrial age, weÕve pushed
global CO2 concentrations from their natural level of 280 CO2 molecules per
million air molecules to 380 parts per million; weÕre fast approaching the
dangerous 450 parts per million level beyond which scientists believe that
dangerous climate change may spin entirely out of human control. WeÕd better get to work.
Coal
industry plans will make things far worse. Worldwide economic expansion and the high price of natural
gas have created a global Òcoal rush.Ó
Three nations—China, India, and the U.S.—plan 850 new coal
plants, which would pump far more CO2 into the atmosphere than the Kyoto
agreement aims to reduce .
Although China is the dominant player, over 150 of these plants are in
the U.S. We already release some
25 percent of global CO2 emissions, despite having only 5 percent of the
planetÕs population. The new coal
plants will boost U.S. emissions by 10 percent and world emissions by 2.4
percent. New plants are planned
near Osceola and Texarkana, and near Sallisaw, Oklahoma, 30 miles west of Fort
Smith.
Fortunately,
there is a smart way to solve these plantsÕ global warming threat. The technology exists for coal plants
to capture nearly all their carbon dioxide and store it deep underground. Geologists believe that all the CO2
produced by fossil fuel power plants during this century can be stored safely
for hundreds to thousands of years—long enough that its leakage rate will
not create global warming problems.
Experts believe that this technology could solve as much as 55 percent
of the global warming problem.
Carbon
storage can be used with any coal plant, but it is cheapest and most effective
with the ÒgasifiedÓ coal plants planned for 15 percent of our new coal
plants. This will raise the price
of coal-generated electricity by 1 to 5 cents per kilowatt hour, added onto the
present price of about 5 cents.
ThereÕs
little doubt that new coal plants will eventually store all their carbon, and
the extra expense will be seen as a necessary cost of doing business. By allowing those plants to foul the
atmosphere with CO2, humankind presently pays that cost, in spades, in the form
of environmental destruction. The
cost belongs with the coal industry and their customers. This is just one example of the fundamental
truth that the environmental ÒexternalitiesÓ of every industry must be
incorporated into the cost of business if the free marketÕs Òhidden handÓ is
not to destroy the environment.
Industries that routinely destroy the environment are effectively and
unfairly subsidized by the environment, introducing a ÒdistortionÓ into the
market. Besides the coal industry,
another prime example is the automobile industry. Both are overused because they are underpriced. That price differential is being paid,
but itÕs being paid—in spades--by the planet and everybodyÕs health
instead of by industry and its customers.
Business colleges should incorporate this environmental perspective into
their teaching, but seldom do.
A
national solution is preferable.
For example, the current Lieberman-McCain global warming bill would
ÒcapÓ carbon emissions in such as way as to push emissions downward to 1990
levels by 2020. Under this bill,
permits to emit carbon will be issued to companies allowing them to emit carbon
up to a certain limit. These
permits will be Òtradable,Ó meaning that efficient companies will have excess
permits that they can sell to inefficient companies. Thus, the market will set a price on CO2 emissions. ItÕs estimated that, once that price
reaches about $40 per ton, it will be profitable for coal plants to store their
emissions, and global warming will be incorporated into the economics of
coal.
But
until that day arrives, we must keep in mind that each new coal plant planned
for Osceola, Texarkana, Sallisaw, and elsewhere will last some 60 years. Far from being Òclean,Ó they are planet
killers if they emit their CO2 to the atmosphere. Citizens must demand that they store those emissions.