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Saturday, January 29, 2005
Greenpeace: Clean coal not possible
* The group says 'coal is the dirtiest of fossil-fuels, emitting 80 percent more carbon per unit of energy than gas and 29 percent more than oil'
ENVIRONMENT campaigner Greenpeace scored the Apec Clean Fossil Energy Working Group for misinforming the public, saying that it conjured up the oxymoron clean coal to keep the coal industry's dirty business alive.
In a statement, the group said "coal is the dirtiest of fossil-fuels, emitting 80 percent more carbon per unit of energy than gas and 29 percent more than oil."
They added, "Coal accounts for over 40 percent of the world's annual carbon emissions and is inherently related to the many disasters brought about by the increase in frequency of extreme weather events such as storms and droughts."
They cited an article titled "Clean Coal is Possible," published in a local daily in Cebu, quoting Scott M. Smouse, chair of expert group on clean fossil energy of Asia, that coal can be a clean energy source.
Greenpeace debunked the industry claim that a technology is on the way that will capture carbon dioxide (CO2) before it is emitted into the atmosphere. This is called carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), a technology that will be used to capture CO2 where it will be transported and then stored somewhere underground or in the seabed with the goal of isolating CO2 from the atmosphere for a long period of time.
However, the group said, the technology is in a premature state. At best, CCS will not start before 2020, if it materializes at all - and will not become commercially available as a possible effective mitigation option until 2030. The majority of CCS deployment is likely to come in the second half of this century.
Jasper Inventor of Greenpeace said, "It will be a little too late to save the climate.
The problem with this industry is it is peddling a terribly dirty technology today, then promises that it will clean it's act in the next 20 years. How ridiculous is that? People are dying and getting sick because of the toxic pollution coal plants generate, and climate change is already one of the most dangerous threats facing mankind today."
The Apec Clean Fossil Energy Group forum in Cebu City early this week was met with protests from the communities of Naga and Toledo where there are existing and proposed coal-fired power plants.
"While the Apec Clean Fossil Energy delegates are talking about the clean coal technology of the future, it comes too late for the communities in Calaca, Sual, Toledo, Naga, Pagbilao, Mauban and Masinloc who are hosting coal-fired power plants.
This dirty energy technology has decimated these communities because of its toxic emissions," said Romana de los Reyes of Pinoy Kontra Coal, a coalition of Filipino communities against coal.
A Greenpeace Southeast Asia report dubbed "The Hazardous Emissions from Philippine Coal Fired Power Plants" states the fly ash generated from the coal fired power plants of Mauban, Masinloc and Sual yielded alarming levels of toxic chemicals and heavy metals.
"When the Department of Energy or the coal industry talks about what they claim as "clean coal technology" they present it in a way that this solves the problems of toxic emissions. These measures, however, only mitigate or limit the emission of sulphur oxide and nitrogen oxide but not heavy metals like cadmium, lead, mercury," De los Reyes added.
"The twin impacts of climate change and toxic emissions of coal fired power plants leaves us no choice but to opt for a totally clean energy technology that can only be derived from renewable energy sources," Inventor further said.
(January 29, 2005 issue)
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