ERMUSR Misc Notes 04-11-2006 - Laserfiche WebLink

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executives are going to make abillion-dollar bet on it," says William Rosenberg of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. The two gasifi- cation power plants in the U.S. are half the size of most commercial generating stations and have proved less reliable than traditional plants. The technology also costs as much as 20 percent more. Most important, there's little incentive fora com- pany to take on the extra risk and expense of cleaner technology: For now U.S. utilities are free to emit as much carbon dioxide as they like. Cinergy CEO James Rogers, the man in charge of Gibson and eight other carbon-spewing plants, says he expects that to change. "I do believe we'll have regulation of carbon in this country," he says, and he wants his company to be ready. "The sooner we get to work, the bet- ter. Ibelieve it's very important that we develop the ability to do carbon sequestration:' Rogers says he intends to build acommercial-scale gasification power plant, able to capture its car- bon dioxide, and several other companies have announced similar plans. The energy bill passed last July by the U.S. Congress offers help in the form of loan guar- antees and tax credits for gasification projects. "This should jump-start things," says Rosenberg, MITCH EPSTEIN A CLEANER WAY I A North Dakota chemical plant transforms coal to a gas while stripping out carbon dioxide and piping it underground to an oil field in Canada; only steam escapes. This plant sells the gas, but clean power plants of the future could make coal gas, then burn it to generate electricity. who advocated these measures in testimony to Congress. The experience of building and run- ning the first few plants should lower costs and improve reliability. And sooner or later, says Rogers, new environmental laws that put a price on carbon dioxide emissions will make clean tech- nology look far more attractive. "If the cost of carbon is 30 bucks a ton, it's amazing the kinds of technologies that will evolve to allow you to produce more electricity with less emissions:' If he's right, we may one day be able to cool our houses without turning up the thermostat on the entire planet. ^ R Insatiable Appetite Can the Earth sustain our growing coal consumption? Is the government push- ing hard enough for cleaner coal technologies? Share your thoughts in our forum at ngm.com/0603. THE HIGH COST OP CHEAP COAL 103