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Coal Supply May Be Vastly Overestimated
Michael Reilly, Discovery News
Forget peak oil — a series of new estimates of the world’s coal supply suggests reserves may be vastly overestimated, and if the planet isn’t running on a majority of alternative energies within the next few decades, we could be facing an unprecedented global energy crisis.
On the flip side, a dwindling supply of coal could also throw the breaks on global warming, some argue.
Common knowledge about coal is that major producing nations like China, the United States and Australia, have enough to last hundreds of years, far beyond the reach of oil, which may already be in its twilight years. But worldwide coal production could plateau as early as 2025, according to one new estimate, and a growing group of scientists are concerned that fossil fuel supplies may begin dwindling by mid-century.
Last year, David Rutledge of the California Institute of Technology analyzed the coal production patterns of five regions around the world — eastern Pennsylvania, France, Germany’s Ruhr Valley, the United Kingdom and Japan — each of which was producing at less than a tenth of its peak levels.
(11 May 2009)
Peak coal makes it to the Discovery Channel. -BA
CO2-Abtrennung in der Kritik
Volker Mrasek, d.radio.de
Umwelt. – Die sogenannte CCS-Technik wird vor allem von Kraftwerksbetreibern gepriesen: Bei diesem Kraftwerkstyp wird das Klimagas aus dem Abgas entfernt und anschließend unter Tage deponiert. Dabei sind viele Fragen der CO2-Abtrennung und unterirdischen Speicherung ungeklärt. Darauf weist jetzt der Sachverständigenrat für Umweltfragen der Bundesregierung hin…
(6 May 2009)
Richard Heinberg was interviewed for this piece on German radio.
You just can’t clean coal, warn activists
Tricia Holly Davis, The Times
THE government’s latest plans to turn coal into a “clean” fuel are coming under increasing attack by climate-change activists and scientists.
They say the technology to be used (see below) would miss the majority of new coal-plant emissions – if it works at all. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) has been proven only on small power stations that generate about 30MW of electricity, but new coal plants would produce 50 times that power. CCS-fitted plants also require more coal to operate, using up 25% to 40% of the total power generated to run the carbon capture equipment.
Even the government’s former chief scientific adviser is perplexed by the plan. “The energy needed to run CCS is significant and that of itself is a real problem,” said Sir David King.
The bigger concern, said King, is that most of the emissions from new coal plants could go unabated…
(10 May 2009)
