XML FeedsChina Balks at Global Warming-Gas Capture Costs
By CostBenefit on Aug 9, 2009 | In Energy, Climate Change GHG Carbon CO2, Newspaper/Mag/TV/Media Story, China, Contamination Cost, Costs and Benefits | Send feedback »
Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601124&sid=awnmd15dPMVU
According to Alex Morales and Jeremy van Loon writing for Bloomberg News Service:
China, the world’s biggest carbon-dioxide polluter, is balking at the cost and effectiveness of extracting greenhouse gases from hundreds of coal plants and storing them underground.
China can achieve larger emissions cuts instead by spending money improving the energy efficiency of buildings and vehicles and investing in alternative power sources such as wind and solar, said Su Wei, director-general of the climate-change unit at China’s National Development and Reform Commission.
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In 2008, coal burning in China added 366 million tons more to the world’s CO2 emissions than in 2007, almost two-thirds of the global increase in output of the gas from burning dirty fossil fuels, Bloomberg calculations from BP Plc data show....
At the demonstration stage, the technology costs as much as 90 euros ($130) to keep a ton of emissions from the atmosphere, the consultants McKinsey and Co. estimate. Once commercialized, that can be cut to as little as 30 euros by 2030, according to the New York-based firm.
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China and the U.S. on July 28 signed a “memorandum of understanding” in which the two nations pledged to work together to fight climate change, sharing research on technologies including carbon capture and storage....
Coal makes up 70 percent of China’s total primary energy consumption and its use of coal last year represented 40 percent of the world’s total, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. About 49 percent of U.S. electricity was generated by coal in 2007....
China ... consumes about 3 billion tons of coal annually.
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The environmental group Greenpeace has said carbon capture is a “scam” because it’s an unproven technology that aims to extend the use of fossil fuels...
By Alex Morales and Jeremy van Loon
FOR FULL STORY GO TO
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601124&sid=awnmd15dPMVU
August 6, 2009
Bloomberg News Service www.Bloomberg.com
