WWF on coal

It's bad

Posted by David Roberts at 3:12 PM on 11 May 2007

Read more about: energy | coal | greenhouse-gas emissions | climate | climate change mitigation

The WWF has a new briefing out called "Are the costs of using coal higher than the cost of cleaning it up?" It contains the standard "coal is the enemy of the human race" statistics, and concludes with six recommendations for how to reduce coal's impact on global warming:

1. Emerging economies need access to best-available-technologies including last-generation coal-fired power technology and support from G8 nations and the financial sector in deploying it.

2. OECD countries should not replace aging power stations with traditional coal.

3. Demand-side management solutions should be considered before considering construction of new power stations. This will re-direct investment into cheaper energy-savings technology.

4. New power plants should use combined heat and power (CHP) and, where possible, cooling (tri- generation) technology. This will increase plant efficiency from 40-45% (coal) to over 80% (CHP).

5. Strict caps and/or standards are needed that mandate the construction of low-carbon and CCS power plants in the OECD as soon as possible. Emission standards should set gas-fired CHP as their benchmark.

6. All countries should set air pollution standards to protect the health of citizens and strengthen any existing caps to include all power stations. Technologies for low-carbon power stations can reduce conventional air emissions by as much as 90%.

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Number 7

Hey, all:

WWF left the most important one off.

7. Get the Hell rid of Coal. Dollar for dollar, pound for pound, Euro-dollar for Euro-dollar, etc., move subsidies currently for Coal to production and installation of PV and wind for home and industry. Go to Germany and take lessons on distributed sustainable generation of electricity. Cross out 1-6.

David
Sustainability For Life

Messages done with sustainable energy, with Wind and Sun!

by SustainableGreen at 6:00 PM on 11 May 2007

Um, Germany still subsidizes coal. Heavily.

And has done for many, many years. Currently, the federal and lander governments are forking out up to 2.5 billion euros ($3.2 billion) a year to subsidize the annual production of 25 million tons of coal from Germany's eight remaining underground hard-coal mines. And Germany remains one of the leading producers of surface-mined brown coal.

At least an end to the hard-coal subsidies may finally be in sight (subject to modification by the ever coal-friendly Social Democratic Party). According to a report on DW-world.de from 29 January:

After extensive negotiations, the premiers of North Rhine-Westphalia and Saarland, two of Germany's particularly coal-rich regions, and representatives of the coal union and the mining conglomerate agreed Sunday on a plan to phase out German coal subsidies.

Though no official deadline was set, 2018 was mentioned as the year the subsidies would finally end. Don't hold your breath.

These are only my personal opinions.

by Ron Steenblik at 12:17 AM on 12 May 2007
[ Parent ]

plus there's the ash

Coal fly ash is also a nasty problem, something to be landfilled later at great expense. Numerous watersheds and communities have been poisoned over the years with this metals- and arsenic-laden stuff (Wenham Lake in Mass for eg) when it's disposed improperly. For a while industry was allowed to mix it into concrete to avoid the costs, and that was also found to be too toxic. The grassroots group Environmental Integrity Project is tracking this issue: here's an eg:

http://www.environmentalintegrity.org/pub284.cfm

The Orion Grassroots Network: supporting grassroots groups working for conservation, justice, & more

by Erik Hoffner at 4:57 AM on 12 May 2007

Coal origin

The coal on yhis planet was produced 4000 years ago when 6 billion people were on this planet at the time and relatively modern society.The Idiots warred and exploded mercury laden bombs to kill down large groups of people.The folks I work with from planet 26,who work on our earth grid when necessary had to come here and cook down the cities with ships that cooked them down to a coal component and then let this planet rest for 2000 years before re-habitation began.The mercury is not in every coal bed,but in most in the US.There are artifacts regularly found in the coal deposits that are modern items,just google and search out the facts for yourselves.We should have never burned the coal and the foolish men of government and industry WERE told not to do it by our science department,but they refused.That damn mercury has ruined our fisheries and I have told you folks over and over that your efforts were needed in stopping the coal from being burned so we at least have some genetics left.The damn CO2 doesnt overheat this planet from a greenhouse effect and I have stated that also on this forum in many forms to a deaf ,dumb and blind audience.I told you foolish people that I am an earth scientist and knew what the hell was going on .That submarine recently found in Norways waters from WW2 that has 55 tons of mercury onboard was found to be leaking and those foolish men have reccomendes covering with sand instead of removing the almost 1800 flasks and they are only at 500 feet.That sub was from Nazi germany and there are other subs and at least one ship at the bottom of the ocean that are leaking dammit and our tuna and swordfish are full of it and ruining their genetics and intellect.Heres another fact for you unconscious dolts,the whales have been in the areas of leakage and eaten the large amounts of crill and other fish and the damn mercury affects their ability to navigate properly and thats why they beach themselves,just the facts folks ,just the facts.And heres another factoid for you folks,dont take the damn flouride or flouride products into your body,the damn Nazis had large concentrations in the water and food supply of the the folks in their internment camps,it made them stuopid and calm and is doing the same damn thing to you folks,plain and simple.Pineal gland autopsies have proven to contain the flouride as it builds up there and affects the intellect.its not for your teeth and even brushing your teeth with flouride products gets into your damn system sub-lingually.So wake up and brush with baking soda like the folks in my science department do.The damn scientists brought here in operation paperclip have destroyed the intellect in the US and other countries for a reason ,can you see it yet??Do you folks get the Grist yet???

Earth Shaman

by Earth Shaman at 6:09 PM on 13 May 2007

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