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Coal’s comeback
Tom Arnold, arabianbusiness.com
The energy-rich economies of the Arabian Gulf are home to about 40 percent of the world’s crude oil. So exactly why are they looking to coal as a source of power? Arabian Business reports on the unlikely return of an unfashionable fossil fuel.
The 1984 miners strike signalled the beginning of the end for the British coal industry. One by one the pits closed, ending the dominance of a fossil fuel that had powered the country’s factories and heated its homes since the industrial revolution.
Two decades on from the miners’ strike and the unfashionable fuel is making a comeback on the global stage – starting in the most unlikely region of all.
Oman last week detailed plans of a study on the viability of using coal to meet its spiralling energy needs, mainly fuelled by the large industrial projects springing up across the country.
Not to be outdone, the UAE emirate of Ajman announced its intention at the end of July to build the UAE’s first coal-fired power plant, with another emirate, Ras Al Khaimah, also planning to move ahead with the building of its own station.
“Gas is the primary source of energy for power plants but for various reasons some of these Gulf countries are now facing potential shortages in gas so they’re having to look at other options which include coal,” says Dubai-based Raja Kiwan, an analyst at PFC Energy International.
Indeed, it may not be long before Dubai too turns to the black stuff to meet its energy needs. Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) is understood to be considering the construction of a $1.6bn power station to generate electricity using hydrogen extracted from coal.
But the critical environmental question facing governments in the region weighing up the option of coal, is whether they are prepared to further worsen the GCC’s already unenviable position of having one of the highest carbon emissions per capita in the world, by opting for a fuel which is a major contributor to climate change…
(3 October 2008)
‘Clean coal’ policies absent, GAO finds
Ken Ward Jr., Charlestone Gazette
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Federal policy-makers have taken few of the steps necessary if greenhouse emissions from coal-fired power plants are to be captured and stored underground, according to a new government report.
Coal industry backers are banking that “carbon capture and storage” will allow the industry to survive efforts to control global climate change.
But the U.S. Government Accountability Office report, released this week, adds to growing concerns that the technology isn’t ready now – and might not be for a long time.
GAO investigators cited underdeveloped and costly emissions-capture technology and legal uncertainties about the permitting and liability for carbon dioxide that would be stored underground. National studies, industry leaders and top scientists have all pointed to key problems with CCS becoming a reality, the GAO noted.
“Federal agencies have begun to address some CCS barriers but have yet to comprehensively address the full range of issues that would require resolution for commercial-scale CCS deployment,” the GAO said in a 69-page study made public Tuesday…
(2 October 2008)
Al Gore’s Call for Civil Disobedience to Block Coal Plants Could Start Energy Civil War in US
energytechstocks.com
It hasn’t happened since November 1969, at the height of the Vietnam War. But in the wake of former U.S. Vice President Al Gore’s call for civil disobedience to block construction of coal-fired power plants, a new student-led protest movement may be close at hand.
Nearly 40 years ago, hundreds of thousands of college students and other Americans marched on Washington to protest the Vietnam War and a military draft they considered a death sentence. Protesters were gassed. The nation was ripped apart.
It could all happen again – a new civil war over the future direction of the nation’s energy policy, with Gore as its five-star general fighting against what his followers consider the death sentence posed by global warming…
…Investors need to understand that Gore’s call to action could become a threat to tens of billions of dollars of investment and hundreds of thousands of jobs tied to fossil fuel industries…
(3 October 2008)
The last paragraph sums this one up. There are some powerful interests at stake here. See Richard Heinberg’s commentary ‘Delay and Fail’ for his perspective.-SO
