ABC Four Corners reporter Liz Jackson recently travelled to China and the United States to determine how far they have come in creating a Carbon Capture and Storage systems – also known as CCS or the controversial term “clean coal“. To date, no large-scale CCS projects have been produced.
With the spectre of irreversible climate change looming and G8 leaders having agreed on the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent over the next 40 years, coal is in the crosshairs as the burning of coal is the world’s biggest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.
In the United States, the major project to create clean coal is called FutureGen; China has GreenGen and Australia has NewGen coal.
The United States project, announced with much fanfare by the previous Bush administration, has been revealed to be little more than a public relations stunt and isn’t expected to become reality before 2040.
In China, clean-coal technology efforts are only just getting under way and according to a Chinese government advisor who spoke with 4 Corners, “carbon capture and storage is not commercially viable and probably will not be for 20 years”.
In Australia, the Labor Government has given $2.4 billion for research into clean coal.
One of the great ironies of clean coal is that CCS technologies require more energy to work – and that means the burning of more coal and other fuels to create that energy – and more mining of the filthy fossil fuel. That would be good news for the Australian coal industry, but perhaps not so good for Australia’s environment.
According to Australia’s Federal Minister for Resources, Martin Ferguson: “We don’t have energy security unless we make the breakthroughs on CCS or solar thermal or geothermal or whatever. We have to solve this problem or we don’t have energy security and the lights go out”
Will commercial scale CCS be too late to save the planet from irreversible and disastrous climate change? Should we be diverting the billions of taxpayers’ money earmarked for CCS more towards proven, clean, renewable energy such as solar power?
“Coal Nightmare” will be airing tonight on ABC1’s Four Corners at 8.30pm and will also be able to be viewed at the Four Corners web site.
