The next step: Australia's Energy Productivity Roadmap

The next step: Australia's Energy Productivity Roadmap  Forum presentations now online Have your say The next step: Australia's Energy Productivity Roadmap The next step in our campaign to double energy productivity is to gather additional support for the Joint Statement on Lifting Energy Productivity and to engage government and businesses in developing an Australian Energy Productivity Roadmap. We will keep you informed of progress through these newsletters. If your organisation would like to support the Roadmap, please contact A2SE Presentations now online Presentations from the 2XEP Forum can now be viewed online. Click here to view the video catalogue. We will feature some presentation highlights in the weeks ahead. Have your say   Thank you to the dozens of people who have already provided feedback on the 2XEP Forum. We have also circulated an online feedback form to all delegates.  For those who have not yet had an opportunity to do so,  please send us your feedback so we can continue to improve our future events. Supporters A2SE gratefully acknowledges the support of its partners and sponsors                                              If you would like more information on the Forum, the 2XEP initiative, or A2SE membership please contact Event Manager, Georgie Roberts at events@a2se.org.au or (02) 9514-3675

The Australian Alliance to Save Energy, Level 11, UTS Building 10, 235 Jones St, Ultimo, NSW, 2007, Ph: 02 9514 3675

We're likely to be a land of increasingly severe droughts and floods

Will Steffen | The Australian | 19 March 2012

AUSTRALIA has long been a land of droughts and flooding rains, and the past two years have been a good example of that well-known climatic pattern.

When the dams are full, the paddocks are green and the dry soil has turned soggy, we tend to forget about drought and its risks for our health and well-being.

However, it has always been wise to take a long-term perspective and to acknowledge that a few wet years don't mean we'll never see a severe drought again. Furthermore, with climate change now in the mix, it is even more important to take a broader, long-term perspective.

Climate change is influencing more than just droughts, as the recent CSIRO-Bureau of Meteorology State of the Climate 2012 report clearly outlines.

Temperatures over land and in the oceans continue to increase rapidly, sea levels are rising and extremely hot days have become more common. But it is the recent period of very wet, cool weather bringing floods to many parts of Australia that has grabbed the most attention in the past few months.

The Climate Commission's report on the science behind southeast Australia's wet, cool summer provides the broader, long-term perspective needed to understand the significance of the big wet.

The 2010-2011 period was the wettest two-year period on record in Australia. The exceptionally high rainfall was driven by back-to-back La Nina events, the phase of natural climate variability that periodically brings heavy rainfall to eastern Australia.

La Nina events are associated with higher-than-average sea surface temperatures across Australia, which lead to higher rates of evaporation from the surface ocean and more water in the air for rainstorms. In fact, the sea surface temperatures to the north of Australia during the spring and early summer of 2010-2011 were the highest on record, very likely contributing to the amount and intensity of the rainfall.

The very high sea surface temperatures were also, in part, a result of the underlying global warming trend. We are not only seeing increasing temperatures over land, but the surface waters of the ocean are also heating up. For this reason, many scientists are concerned global warming may have contributed to the strength of the La Nina event and thus to the heavy rainfall and flooding.

In the longer term, it is likely that the wet years of 2010 and 2011 were only a short interruption in the drier conditions we've observed in southeast Australia during the past 40 years.

The bulk of the rain in the past two years fell in spring and summer, not in the normal autumn-winter period of wetter conditions that typifies the southeast's climate. Changes in the timing of rainfall, not just the amount, have important consequences for farming and water resources.

The drop in autumn-winter rainfall, primarily since the mid-1990s, is associated with a southwards shift of the rain systems from the Southern Ocean that normally provided the rain for this season. This same shift is largely responsible for the reduction in autumn-winter rainfall in southwest Western Australia.

This emerging pattern of long-term drying across southern Australia, exacerbated by hot days and weeks and periodically interrupted by very intense rainfall and flooding, comes as no surprise to climate scientists. It is entirely consistent with what we expect from a changing climate.

How will droughts and floods change in the future?

Again, a long-term perspective is essential. Extended dry periods are expected to increase in southwest and southeast Australia by the end of this century, increasing the risk of drought.

On the other hand, it is more likely than not that heavy rainfall events will also become more frequent across much of Australia. So when long dry periods are interrupted by welcome periods of wet weather, the rain is more likely to fall as heavy downpours than as extended drizzle.

It is virtually certain the global average temperature will continue to rise through the 21st century. This is likely to increase the number, length and intensity of heat waves across many regions of Australia. Very hot days coupled with extended dry periods create significant stress for plants and animals, and pose serious risks for human health and well-being.

The quintessential Australian climatic pattern of intense droughts and flooding rains will still be with us in the future. But the added risks associated with climate change make it even more important that we plan and act on a careful analysis of the risks that climate variability and climate change together bring.

The magnitude of these risks ultimately depends on the effectiveness of global emission reduction efforts, including by Australia. The transition to a clean energy economy, which is gathering speed in many parts of the world, gives us great hope that we can minimise these potential risks.

Will Steffen is Climate Commissioner and executive director of the Australian National University's Climate Change Institute.

Australian energy innovation jobs - CSIRO

Whatever happened to -
The UltraBattery™, developed by CSIRO Energy Technology in Australia

The UltraBattery™ in a hybrid electric vehicle is able to deliver and absorb charge rapidly during vehicle acceleration and regenerative braking, respectively. In wind turbine applications it can also absorb the noise generated by the variation in wind speed, delivering a smooth power output.

Australia energy innovation jobs

For both advanced automotive applications, and grid-connected wind energy applications, UltraBattery™ has shown excellent performance and has the potential to remarkably improve the economic viability, and therefore the 'uptake rate' of HEVs and better utilisation of renewable energy. This, in turn, will reduce the global consumption of fossil fuels and the production of greenhouse gas emissions.

Ah! There it is -
The UltraBattery™, developed by CSIRO Energy Technology in Australia

UltraBattery®: High Efficiency and Long Life in Partial State of Charge Applications UltraBattery® technology works in Partial State of Charge with high efficiency, long life and low lifetime costs. It’s safe and virtually 100% recyclable. UltraBattery® has been tested by major independent labs and installed in grid and HEV applications worldwide. It’s been called, “remarkable”, “a leap forward for low emission transport” and “an attractive and cost-effective alternative to other advanced battery chemistries”. UltraBattery® gives lead-acid technology a very bright future. Ecoult delivers complete energy storage solutions and modules powered by the breakthrough UltraBattery® technology - a hybrid lead-acid energy storage device containing both an Ultracapacitor and a battery in a common electrolyte. Our storage solutions manage variability, smooth power and shift energy in a safe, reliable and environmentally sound way - the energy storage of choice for grid ancillary services, wind and solar farms, remote microgrids, multi-purpose datacenter backup and diesel microgrid efficiency applications.

Boom Chica Boom

Big Bang Theory a conspiracy say former climate science denier cult members.

Global warming deniers - crispy

Don't continue the embarrassment of your climate science denial.

Try this brand new anti-science movement rejecting the Big Bang Theory.

Here is a group of enthusiastic former climate science deniers promoting their challenge to the Big Bang Theory:

Big Bang Alternatives, anyone?

Image credit: grandunificationtheory.com. Click for full-size where available.

Coal - them and us or teamwork

Research in a number of fields may make new nuclear energy technology available with little warning.

Research and development of new applications for coal in petrochemical industries in parallel with reducing reliance on coal for energy can avoid any loss of jobs and State government mining royalties. If the new applications increase the value of coal then the interest groups that rely on coal can share growing revenues, wages and royalties over the period in which cleaner energy sources gradually replace coal in the energy industry.

Dakota Gasification Company plans urea from #coal facility at its Great Plains Synfuels Plant http://t.co/AhD5drBRYd #nswpol #agchatoz #csg
— Askgerbil Now (@Askgerbil) May 2, 2014

The development of a widely acceptable transition plan for the coal industry is a good investment for the future of the industry regardless of lobbying for clean energy. Research in a number of fields has the potential for breakthroughs that make new energy technology available with little warning.

Physicists add another element to table

Dani Cooper | ABC Science News | 2 May 2014

A new superheavy element looks set to be added to the periodic table with the help of Australian researchers.

"We've managed to find four atoms of the same element 117, that hopefully will be sufficient to allow it to be officially recognised and then named," says co-author Professor David Hinde, at the Australian National University.

He says the creation of element 117 "is at the absolute boundary of what is possible right now".

"That's why it's a triumph to create and identify even a few of these atoms."

Understanding the atom

The main benefit of the creation of these superheavy elements is to better understand nuclei.

"If we push beyond what is already known we can refine models and determine what are the proper physical descriptions of nuclei and the chemical properties of elements," says Hinde.

Nuclear energy technology is in its infancy.  Consider a breakthrough that commercialises an Accelerator Driven Reactor designed to smash radioactive waste nuclei into fragments which are scarce and high-valued isotopes - and produces energy as a by-product that can be distributed at no charge...

Professor Nanda Dasgupta - Nuclear Fusion: Quantum coherence and its consequences

The budgets of State and Federal Governments rely heavily on mining exports. The Queensland budget in June 2013 forecast royalties from coal mining to be $11 billion over the next 4 years. Similarly the New South Wales (NSW) budget in June 2012 (the 2013 budget is to be released in a few days) shows the extent to which the NSW government budget relies on coal mining royalties.

Year	Qld ($billions)	NSW ($billions)
2012-13	$1.743	$1.878
2013-14	$2.125	$2.112
2014-15	$2.643	$2.363
2015-16	$2.961	$2.518
2016-17	$3.356	-

Employment relies too on coal mining. NSW reports that total employment in mining grew from 19,000 jobs in 2001 to 39,000 jobs ten years later in 2011. The Hunter region is most reliant on mining where jobs increased from 9,000 to 17,000 in the ten years from 2001 to 2011.

The interests of coal mining investors, the mining industry workforce and State governments are largely overlooked in lobbying to build a renewable energy industry. This lobbying is often narrowly focused on the goal of displacing fossil fuel use within Australia. Domestic use of fossil fuels is a fraction of production so this goal is wide of the mark needed to achieve a reduction in global emissions. It would however send a controversial marketing message: asking overseas customers to buy a product that Australia itself no longer uses.

There is no need to engage in a conflict between vested interests. Technology for a staged transition of energy sources can avoid loss of capital value of coal-fired power stations. See the article "Combining Technologies to Increase Usefulness and Value" for an example. Using solar/coal/gas/biomass fuel with the same gas turbine and generator minimises the capital expenditure for reliable power generation plants. An indirectly fired gas turbine can burn any fuel - even coal. The same turbine and generator can be driven by concentrated solar thermal energy - adjustable up to 100 percent coal as required for reliable power generation.

Research and development of new applications for coal in petrochemical industries in parallel with reducing reliance on coal for energy can avoid any loss of jobs and State government mining royalties. If the new applications increase the value of coal then the interest groups that rely on coal can share growing revenues, wages and royalties over the period in which cleaner energy sources gradually replace coal in the energy industry.

Related posts - 

Future Nuclear Power Reactors Must Be Safe

Driven nuclear reactions on minimum acceptable safety standards for nuclear technology.

Coalition climate policy and practical emissions reductions

Turrum, tuna and kipper fishing

The project described below is preparing to separate 800,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year from natural gas.

• To release this carbon dioxide into the atmosphere with a carbon tax of $23 per tonne will cost $18.4 million a year.
• Under the Coalition's Direct Action policy to release this carbon dioxide into the atmosphere will cost nothing.

There are commercial options that are in addition to these political choices to influence carbon dioxide emissions. The cost of the first option and the value of the second and third options are only estimates for the purposes of illustration:

• Pay $10 per tonne - for a total expenditure of $8 million a year - to return the carbon dioxide into one of the gas reservoirs in the Bass Strait oil and gas fields.
• Sell the carbon dioxide for $5 per tonne - for a total revenue of $4 million a year - for algae farming that uses it as a nutrient to produce bio-diesel fuel and cattle fodder.
• Sell the carbon dioxide for $10 per tonne - for a total revenue of $8 million a year - for SolarGas production from methane and carbon dioxide used as fuel in a combined-cycle gas turbine power station. (Methane to produce 2,400 GWh a year can be converted to SolarGas with 800,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide to produce 3,200 GWh a year from the same power station.)

In Bass Strait the Esso-operated Kipper Tuna Turrum Project is currently one of the largest domestic gas developments on Australia's eastern seaboard. Over the past few years more than 60 kilometres of subsea pipelines, a new offshore platform (Marlin B) and subsea equipment above the Kipper field have been installed. Hook-up and commissioning work is underway to prepare these facilities for operation.

The oil and gas plants at Longford, 20 kilometres from Sale in East Gippsland are the receiving point for oil and gas produced in Bass Strait. They have been operating for more than 40 years and were designed to treat gas from fields developed as part of the original Gippsland operations to meet industry specifications for natural gas product.

Esso's Kipper Tuna Turrum Project, Bass Strait

These existing facilities are not able to process gas with the carbon dioxide content of some of the new fields and this is why a Gas Conditioning Plant is now needed.

The Longford Gas Conditioning Plant will not increase the capacity of the existing Longford Plants. Rather, the new facilities will remove carbon dioxide and mercury from the new sources of gas thus enabling processing by the existing Longford Gas Plants. The technology to be used for carbon dioxide and mercury removal is proven, reliable and commonly used around the world, including other parts of Victoria.

The Longford Gas Conditioning Plant is designed to process approximately 11 million cubic metres per day of gas containing up to 15 percent carbon dioxide. The amount of greenhouse gas to be emitted each year by the Gas Conditioning Plant will include about 800,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide separated from the gas.

NSW Government lies to electricity consumers

Extract from Media Release by The Hon Chris Hartcher, New South Wales Minister for Resources and Energy, Special Minister of State and Minister for the Central Coast

23 April 2013

"NSW electricity bills will continue to show the cost of Labor’s carbon tax following the release of the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal’s (IPART) draft pricing determination that estimates the carbon tax and green schemes component will increase to $330 for the typical household bill.
...
Energy Minister Chris Hartcher said that with the Government capping network price rises at CPI or below, the carbon tax and green schemes continue to drive up the price of electricity for NSW households.

“IPART estimates that NSW electricity bills would be $171 cheaper from 1 July if Labor scrapped its disastrous carbon tax,” Mr Hartcher said. "

What Mr Hartcher conceals is that personal income tax cuts averaging $520 per year were made to cover the cost of the carbon price. The Federal Coalition has promised to remove these income tax cuts.

Extract from Draft Report - Review of regulated retail prices for electricity 2013 to 2016

23 April 2013

Regulated electricity prices NSW, July 2013

The IPART review of electricity prices shows the carbon price and renewable energy generation has forced down the cost of electricity generation by 2.1 percent. The result is a REDUCTION of 1 percent in NSW electricity bills.

Unfortunately, there are increases of 0.4 percent for Network charges and 3.6 percent for Billling and Marketing charges by NSW electricity retailers.

These are responsible for the increase in NSW power bills of 3 percent on 1 July 2013.

Further deception by the NSW Government

The NSW Government has announced it will place a statement in red on all NSW electricity bills, falsely claiming that  "NSW Govt estimates that the Federal carbon tax and green energy schemes add about $330 a year to a typical 6.5MWh household bill – www.ipart.nsw.gov.au"

Struggling NSW families are missing out on $40 million in electricity rebates. Tony Abbott, the NSW Government and the media spray the public with carbon tax nonsense. The NSW Government is less interested in letting 540,000 families know they are eligible for rebates.

Fewer than a couple of thousand have applied for this money to help with rising power bills.

Find out about the secretive NSW electricity assistance package in the related post -

News blackout on carbon tax relief

Carbon arithmetic

Arithmetic of a recipe the coal, shale gas and coal seam gas industries don't want you to know

1. Combine coal and/or biomass containing 180 kilograms of carbon with 270 kilograms of water to produce 120 kilograms of methane and 330 kilograms of carbon dioxide. 
2. Separate and store the 330 kilograms of carbon dioxide. 
3. Compress or liquefy the 120 kilograms of methane to use as fuel in a compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicle or in a liquefied natural gas (LNG) vehicle, truck, train or ship. 
4. Alternately use the 120 kilograms of methane as fuel in a gas power station to produce 1 megawatt-hour of electricity with emissions of just 330 kilograms of carbon dioxide. A carbon price of $23 per tonne of carbon dioxide emissions would add nearly 1 cent to the cost of each kilowatt-hour of electricity generated. 

Coincidentally, the 1 cent per kilowatt-hour for a carbon price is about the same amount saved because this recipe uses less coal to produce electricity than a coal power station.

IN SALAH

Industrial-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) in action

In Salah, an industrial-scale CCS project in Algeria has been in operation since 2004. More than three million tonnes of CO₂, separated during gas production, have been securely stored in a deep saline formation. BP, Sonatrach and Statoil, the project operators, aim to store a total of 17 million tonnes over the next 20 years. (Read more...)

Related posts

China slashing carbon dioxide emissions

Coal for India, China and other developing countries

Investing on the Road to Global Financial Crisis II

Great energy technology hidden from public view

The solar and wind energy industries are in an "all-or-nothing" marketing campaign against coal and natural gas. At present the solar and wind energy industries have no commercial energy storage option to offer.

The CSIRO, GE Global Research and others are creating technology that solves all recognised issues. This technology is steadfastly ignored in media reports.

A combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power station fueled by natural gas that has been converted to syngas by solar thermal energy delivers 20 per cent renewable energy at the reliability and similar cost of a natural gas-only fueled CCGT power station.

Replace the natural gas with bio-methane and this power station will deliver 100 per cent renewable energy  at the reliability and similar cost of a natural gas-only fueled CCGT power station.

Capture half of carbon dioxide collected in the bio-methane production process and this technology REMOVES carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This is environmentally superior to both wind and solar technology.

SolarGas technology could help India’s efforts towards achieving energy security.

SolarGasTM technology was developed by Australia’s national science agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).

There are several potential benefits of the technology in India, such as;

• Improved energy and food security by reducing natural gas consumption; 
• New jobs created through local manufacturing and operation of the technology; 
• The potential to produce solar liquid fuels for transport.

Plants - Nature's Solar Energy Collectors and Renewable Energy Stores

You will soon be able to inspect such a power station. It is to be constructed in North Western Australia. See "Deployment of combined cycle using solar reformed gas in North Western Australia." (original ASI link) and "Development of combined cycle using solar reformed gas" (recent ARENA link).

Related links:
Latest Buzz ...: China slashing carbon dioxide emissions
Latest Buzz ...: Solar Coal Power
Latest Buzz ...: New Paths out of the Agenda 21 Impasse
Hybrid Concentrated Solar Combined Cycle Power Plant and Solar Reformer For Use Therein

A Carbon Price Timetable

Updated Thursday, March 28, 2013

Date	Step
17 Jul 2007	The Prime Minister, John Howard, today committed his government to introducing an emissions trading scheme. Howard said the government would set a long-term emissions target in 2008.  Read more ...
08 Feb 2010	Malcolm Turnbull said an Australian emissions trading scheme, with a carbon price set by the market, would improve business investment certainty. Market-based approaches have the potential to deliver least-cost abatement by providing incentives for firms to reduce emissions where this is cheapest, while allowing the continuation of emissions where they are most costly to reduce. This ETS allows Australian businesses to make their own decisions as to how to reduce their emissions. Government sets the rules and, in particular, sets the cap on total emissions and then lets the market work out the most efficient and effective outcome. Schemes where bureaucrats and politicians pick technologies and winners, doling out billions of taxpayers’ dollars, neither are economically efficient nor will be environmentally effective. For those reasons, I will be voting in favour of this legislation. Read more ...
20 Aug 2010	JULIA Gillard says she is prepared to legislate a carbon price in the next term. It will be part of a bold series of reforms that include school funding, education and health. In an election-eve interview with The Australian, the Prime Minister revealed she would view victory tomorrow as a mandate for a carbon price, provided the community was ready for this step.  Read more ...
15 Sep 2010	The chief executive of Australia’s biggest electricity and gas retailer, AGL, on Wednesday called for the prompt introduction of an emissions trading system restricted only to the power generation sector. Read more ...
16 Sep 2010	BHP boss Marius Kloppers: It's time for carbon tax Mr Kloppers's call for a carbon tax undermines the passionate objections of Tony Abbott to setting a price on carbon before there is a global consensus. "We do believe that such a global initiative will eventually come and, when it does, Australia will need to have acted ahead of it to maintain its competitiveness," Mr Kloppers told a packed Australian British Chamber of Commerce lunch in Sydney. Read more ...
15 Nov 2010	The Australian Government has asked the Productivity Commission to undertake a study on the effective carbon prices that result from emissions and energy reduction policies in place or committed in Australia and other key economies. Read more ...
16 Feb 2011	A "HYBRID" model of a fixed carbon price leading to an emissions trading scheme is likely to be agreed by the multi-party climate committee on Friday as the foundation for a new greenhouse reduction policy. Read more ...
24 Feb 2011	Australia will set a carbon price from July 1, 2012, as an interim measure until a full emissions trading scheme can be introduced ..., Prime Minister Julia Gillard says. But Ms Gillard said no decision had yet been made on what the price would be, ... "Every cent raised from pricing carbon will go to assisting households, helping businesses manage the transition and funding climate change programs," she said. Read more ...
1 Mar 2011	TONY Abbott has vowed to scrap Labor's carbon tax and oppose emissions trading if he wins the next election. However, he was undermined by former opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull, who yesterday said he still supported an emissions trading scheme. Read more ...
11 May 2011	THE energy retailer AGL has urged the Gillard government to stick to its July 2012 start date for putting a price on carbon. Despite fears that a carbon price could dramatically force up household power bills, AGL said many of these claims were erroneous, and the impact of the price rises could be offset by the types of electricity efficiency schemes already in place in NSW, Victoria and SA. Read more ...
20 Mar 2013	The UK Government is acting to give private investors the confidence to invest in the UK’s energy sector. From April 2013 the carbon price floor announced at Budget 2011 will come into effect, providing a clear and credible long-term signal to support investment in low carbon electricity generation. [The carbon price floor starts at £16 ($AUD23.30) per tonne and has a target price for carbon of £30 ($AUD43.75) per tonne of carbon dioxide in 2020.] Read more ...

Action on climate change now agreed

The United States coal industry, the Environment Protection Agency (the EPA) and climate change sceptic Fred Singer have finally arrived at a consensus on energy generation technology that dramatically reduces carbon dioxide emissions.

The contested issue of what contribution carbon dioxide emissions make to climate change was important when climate change sceptics and deniers were paralyzed with fear that low emission energy generation would result in poverty and starvation. With that alarmist outcome put to rest, the heat has gone from the debate.

The crucial change is the long-awaited consensus on action that lowers carbon dioxide emissions. The question of whether this action will influence climate change or not is a different matter. As mentioned above, the heat and urgency has gone from this unresolved issue.

The following representatives in the climate change debate have each endorsed the same action to reduce carbon dioxide emissions of energy generation:

• Dr S. Fred Singer - Climate Change Sceptic
• The United States Coal Industry
• The United States Environment Protection Agency (EPA)

Others have recognised the same action as an economical and profitable approach to reducing energy costs. The fact that carbon dioxide emissions are cut by up to 75 percent compared to coal-fired power generation is, for climate change deniers - an inconsequential side-effect. For others concerned by the risk of climate change - this is both an added bonus and a significant benefit:

• China Wanxiang Holdings
• City of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
• Rockport, Indiana, USA coal gasification plant
• Castle Hill RSL Club, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

S. Fred Singer, April 11, 2012

"Combined-cycle" gas power plants can reach efficiencies of 60% or more, compared to heat efficiencies of nuclear power plants of 35% or coal plants of 40%.

It gets even better than that. Gas-fired electricity generation is essentially non-polluting and user-friendly, and it can be placed in close proximity to wherever power is needed, making distributed generation economically feasible.

For example, a large apartment building of 1,000 units could use its own 10-megawatt power plant. But once installed, it becomes possible to consider co-generation, with the waste heat used for space heating, air-conditioning, hot water, laundry, and other process-heat applications -- and even desalination.

One can imagine energy efficiencies of as much as 80%, more than double what is achieved today. It would also simplify the problem of waste-heat disposal.

Cheap gas will encourage the petrochemical industry to invest $30 billion in new U.S. plants over the next five years, according to Chevron-Phillips Chemical Co. Plastics producers will get a double-boost -- from cheaper feedstock gas, the raw material for their product, and lower electricity costs. ...

So what needs to be done? The first step is to have a White House that strongly believes in the need for low-cost energy to promote economic growth, increase prosperity, and fight poverty. Electricity costs should "skyrocket" downward, not upward.

The United States Coal Industry

Coal-to-Gas is an Off-the-Shelf Energy Solution, by Frank Clemente.

Update 17 March 2014
The coal lobby has removed the web pages for "Coal Can Do That".
A cached copy of this article by Frank Clemente is available from Google - as it existed on 23 February 2014 - Coal-to-Gas is an Off-the-Shelf Energy Solution

Update 2 April 2014
The coal lobby has removed the cached copy of the web pages for "Coal Can Do That". You may still read a copy of the "Coal Can Do That" article "Coal-to-Gas is Off-the-Shelf Energy Solution" from February 2009 by Dr. Frank Clemente.

Substitute natural gas (SNG), the product of a coal-to-gas process, is an established technology that has been around for a century and is currently in use throughout the world.

Substitute natural gas technology produces pipeline quality natural gas equivalents that can be used to fuel power plants, heat homes and manufacture a wide range of goods.

It removes 95% of the mercury and virtually 100% of the sulfur. The captured sulfur can be used to make fertilizer.

It provides fuel for the hundreds of natural gas power plants, ...boosts the economy of local communities and provides well paying jobs. A planned Muhlenberg County substitute natural gas state-of-the-art facility in Kentucky, for example, will create 1,200 construction jobs for four years, 500 permanent jobs and pump over $100 million into the economy of host Muhlenberg County and surrounding communities.

The United States Environment Protection Agency (the EPA)

On Tuesday, March 27 2012, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced new performance standards limiting carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. The standard, which applies only to new power plants, limits CO2 emissions to 1,000 lbs (454 kilograms) per megawatt-hour (kg CO2/MWh).

The proposed rule is significant because it would be the first explicit limit on CO2 emissions in the United States. It effectively brings to an end new construction of conventional coal-fired power plants, which cannot meet the standard.

Typically, new coal plants generate about 1,800 lb (815 kg) CO2/MWh (or between 1,600 to 1,900 lb (725 to 860 kg) CO2/MWh). This means any new coal plants will have to adopt new technologies to reduce emissions, namely carbon capture and storage (CCS).

Natural gas plants, on the other hand, emit around 800-850 lb (360-385 kg) CO2/MWh, well within the standard.

In fact, the EPA based the emission limit on “the performance of widely used natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) technology” and predicts that NGCC will be the predominant choice in new fossil-fuel powered electricity generation.

Heatwave kills more than bushfires

January 2009 Heatwave in Victoria:
an Assessment of Health Impacts

JANUARY 2009's extraordinary heatwave killed 374 Victorians, more than double the number of deaths in the Black Saturday bushfires.

Overview

This report by the Chief Health Officer, Victoria, Australia provides an analysis of the health impacts of the January 2009 Victorian heatwave. This was a period during which Victoria experienced the most extreme temperatures, with many records set for high day and night time temperatures, as well as for the duration of extreme heat.

Over the five days, 27-31 January 2009, maximum temperatures were 12-15°C above normal over much of Victoria. The temperature was above 43°C for three consecutive days from 28-30 January reaching a peak of 45.1°C on 30 January 2009.

Figure 10. Deaths between 26 Jan and 1 Feb: Mean deaths in 2004–08 vs 2009

374 excess deaths occurred in the week 26 January to 1 February, 2009 compared to the same period over the preceding 5 years.

The majority, 294 excess deaths were of people aged 65 and over.

The climate science debate is only a sideshow

Rio Tinto - "We are one of the world's major producers of thermal coal, used for electricity generation in power stations, and of coking coal for steel making."

HSBC Custody Nominees (Australia) Limited - Rio Tinto's largest shareholder with 19.45 percent of the issued share capital "...is listed as the number one shareholder for all of the Big Four Banks in Australia. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of HSBC Holdings Plc - You Know... HSBC BANK - Yes, that's right... HSBC Bank owns more than 10 percent of all of the big Four."

Mr Ralph oversaw business tax reform for the Howard government 

ASHLEY HALL: The former banker and [Rio Tinto] mining executive, John Ralph, is warning that the Government's proposed mining super profits tax will cut industry investment and risk national sovereignty.

Mr Ralph oversaw business tax reform for the Howard government.

He's now retired from corporate life, but he says he's re-entered public debate reluctantly because of the damage he believes the Government is about to inflict on the Australian community with its planned resource tax.

John Ralph: Rudd's great big mining myth 

John Ralph was formerly CEO of CRA Ltd [in 1997 CRA Ltd became Rio Tinto Ltd], Chairman of the Commonwealth Bank and Deputy Chairman of Telstra. He is a Catholic layman active in Church organisations.

John Ralph: Carbon in itself is not a pollutant 

Australians see the ALP / Greens carbon tax just that, another tax.

Carbon in itself is not a pollutant.

The Australian legislation is based on antiquated ignorant and plainly stupid ideology that has no part in today's world. All these polluting countries are laughing at Australia but it is boom time for Green Capitalist for derivative trading where the world’s greatest polluters are the winners.

Coal for India, China and Other Developing Nations

The Future is Better Than It Seems

"There is no reason for developing countries to burden themselves with out-dated power generation technology that is a great handicap to developed countries."

This Garrett portable steam engine was made in England in 1923

Concerns over the future use of coal are justified but not for the reasons commentators have identified:

According to the IEA report, developing nations will largely drive future coal growth. China and India combined are expected to account for more than 90 percent of the increase in global coal use over the next five years.
The IEA report–like WRI’s recent coal analysis–offers troubling projections of an increasingly coal-dependent future. Energy producers need to decide–soon–if they are going to lock-into this course or opt for a lower-carbon future. (New Coal Report Underscores The Urgent Need For Global Clean Energy Development, Ailun Yang | December 20, 2012)

and

Mr Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, blamed China and other developing countries, that have huge reserves of coal and want to continue using fossil fuels to grow, for failing to back plans for the green economy. (Rio+20: Nick Clegg blames China for 'disappointing text', Louise Gray | June 21, 2012)

The bad news is that the coal industry is attempting to foist antiquated and obsolete technology for coal-fired power stations on the developing world. This is an unscrupulous marketing strategy.

It mirrors the conduct of Canada in banning the use of asbestos in Canada because of serious health risks and then continuing to export asbestos along with asbestos-related disease and health costs to India.

Developing countries are taking positive steps to address health risks and environmental degradation caused by harmful products and technologies -

China Increases Asbestos Restrictions by Laurie Kazan-Allen, International Ban Asbestos Secretariat
China adopted a new industry standard in November 2010 prohibiting the use of asbestos in siding and wall materials for construction. This follows China banning the use of asbestos in automotive friction materials in 2003 and its banning in 2005 of the import and export of amphibole asbestos, including amosite and crocidolite. (Read more ...)

Defence, pollution to dominate Chinese parliament by Stephen McDonell, ABC News
In the run up to this congress, pollution has been a major issue for everyday Chinese citizens.
Air quality in the Chinese capital, Beijing, seems to be deteriorating again after some improvements following the 2008 Olympics. (Read more ...)

The issue is NOT the use of coal by developing countries. The unscrupulous conduct of developed countries is the construction of coal-fired power stations in developing countries. These lock the developing countries into reliance on inefficient and expensive uses of coal. This old power generating technology uses coal very inefficiently. The result is that the costs of power will be unreasonably high. In the event that carbon capture and storage technology is eventually required and is installed this will further reduce the efficiency of coal-fired power stations, increase the cost of electricity in developing countries, and increase demand for coal exports from developed countries including Australia and the USA.

Developing countries are in the advantageous position of being able to skip one generation of inefficient, out-dated power generation technology and move directly to new high-efficiency, cleaner and cheaper power generation technology.

Coal / Biomass conversion to Substitute Natural Gas
by Greatpoint Energy process

Coal can be used to deliver 1-1/2 to 2 times more useful energy with newer power generation technology that is increasingly used throughout developed countries:

• The first step is to convert coal to natural gas, synthesis gas or hydrogen. 
• The power generation technology that is available NOW and which developing countries should demand  
1. for synthetic natural gas - combined cycle gas turbine ("CCGT") power stations for centralised power generation and combined heat and power power stations for distributed co-generation and tri-generation applications.
   
   As concerns about CO2 emissions grow, coal-fired power plants are increasingly being replaced with cleaner energy – and new GE technology is aiding the transition.
   
   The FlexEfficiency 60 Plant is the most flexible and efficient power plant of its kind, capable of reaching greater than 61 percent thermal efficiency in combined cycle.
   
   Six of the larger 7F 7-series gas turbines will be shipped to the Chubu Electric Power plant in Japan. Capable of reaching a world’s best 62 percent thermal efficiency, the plant will produce more than 2,300 megawatts in combined-cycle operation.
2. for synthesis gas - integrated gasification combined cycle ("IGCC") 
   
   In November 2007, Duke Energy received approval from the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to build a cleaner-coal integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plant at Duke Energy’s former 160-megawatt Edwardsport Station in Knox County, Indiana.
   
   The 618-megawatt IGCC facility will be one of the cleanest and most efficient coal-fired power plants in the world. It will emit less sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulates than the plant it replaces – while providing more than 10 times the electric power.
   
   Coal is one of the most practical alternatives for addressing Duke Energy’s additional baseload power needs in Indiana. Building the Edwardsport IGCC plant ensures that Duke Energy customers in Indiana will continue to have fairly priced, reliable energy that will help our economy grow. The project is expected to begin commercial operations by early 2013.
• These convert the available energy in gas fuels-sourced from coal, biomass and natural gas-to useful energy with an efficiency from 60 to 98 percent. 
• Coal-fired power stations can achieve only a fraction of this efficiency. Add carbon capture and storage equipment to coal-fired power stations and their already bad performance becomes woeful. 

There is no reason for developing countries to burden themselves with the out-dated power generation technology that is a great handicap to developed countries.

We Are Going to the Moon

"We Are Going to the Moon - Let us Resolve to Climb a Nearby Hill"

Updated 1:45am December 30, 2012

A common response to warnings of climate change is the pursuit of domestic policies that are inadequate.

Australian and U.S. coal exports for instance have rapidly expanded to take up the surplus production that has resulted from cut-backs in domestic consumption.This interplay of vested interests and economic forces is easily overwhelming any benefits of national policies to cut emissions.

A considerable amount of energy also is going into an unnecessary argument over climate science. The pursuit of low-emission technology is all that is needed.

The opponents of climate science are not only dogmatic in denying the possibility of human-induced climate change. They are equally dogmatic with irrational claims that innovation to curb carbon dioxide emissions is not possible or, at the very least, is not economically feasible. The argument about this irrational claim is the only one that need be pursued. Some ideas for this argument are in the post: China slashing carbon dioxide emissions.

In the mid-1960s a great many self-proclaimed pundits argued passionately that it was impossible for man to go to the moon. No amount of rational argument could sway these dunderheads. There was exactly one, very simple answer. With the First Moon Landing by Apollo 11 on July 20, 1969 the loud naysayers went suddenly quiet and were never heard from again.

Opponents of climate science sometimes lead double lives as vocal supporters of the coal industry. Larry Bell was a speaker at the Heartland Institute's Sixth International Conference on Climate Change in 2011 and its Seventh International Conference on Climate Change in 2012.  Naomi Klein wrote in her article Capitalism vs. the Climate on the Heartland Institute's 2011 Conference "as speaker Larry Bell succinctly puts it in his new book 'Climate of Corruption: Politics and Power Behind the Global Warming Hoax'

...climate change 'has little to do with the state of the environment and much to do with shackling capitalism and transforming the American way of life in the interests of global wealth redistribution.' "

Larry Bell also wrote "U.S. Policies And Economic Doldrums Fuel Chinese Energy and Tech Grabs" in which he laments even greater challenges to the way of life of American coal magnates:

"Government regulatory actions, a weakening dollar, and an ailing economy, are providing bargain asset shopping opportunities for Chinese investors. ...

State-owned Export-Import Bank of China is likely to become the sole lender for a 400-megawatt “clean coal” power plant near Odessa, Texas to be developed by the Seattle-based Summit Power Group, LLC. Construction of the $2.5 billion project will be managed by Sinopec, the China Petroleum and Chemical Company. ...

The Texas deal applies a tried-and-true Chinese model: providing competitive financing through a state-owned bank…then negotiating participation for other state-owned companies.

Synthesis Energy Systems of Houston which holds a license for a coal gasification process that upgrades efficiency of low-quality coals while reducing toxic emissions, recently got an $84 million investment from Zhongjixuan Investment Management ( ZJX) of Beijing in exchange for 43 percent ownership in the company. Synthesis President Robert W. Rigdon has admitted awareness of the history of Chinese companies use of foreign technology without regard to patents ..."

It is a waste of time and energy to discuss climate science with such ideologues.

Beyond Zero Emissions in Australia provides an example of setting sights on a nearby national goal that is too trivial for the problem that is to be solved on a global scale. If you intend to go to the moon, walking to the top of a conveniently nearby hill will not get you closer to your goal.

• Australia's carbon dioxide emissions per capita are among the highest in the world. Every person in Australia is part of a domestic economy that emits about 18-19 tonnes of carbon dioxide on behalf of  each of them.
• Reducing emissions to zero - in Australia - is the goal set by Beyond Zero Emissions.
• In the last 3 years Australia greatly reduced its domestic consumption of coal. Over the same period it increased its exports of coal by a greater quantity.
• As the largest coal exporter  in the world Australia's contribution to global carbon dioxide emissions is staggering. Every person in Australia is part of a domestic economy that exports about 30 tonnes of coal on behalf of each of them. When burned this coal creates about 100 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per person in Australia. This is more than 5 times the emissions of each Australian in the domestic economy.
• This figure of 30 tonnes of coal exported per Australian a year is now about 3 times greater than it was just 5 years ago.

The U.S. situation reflects similar dynamics.

• Record U.S. shale gas production has lowered the cost of energy and the intensity carbon dioxide emissions of U.S. electricity generation by displacing coal-fired power generation. While coal's contribution to power generation in the U.S. has undergone an unprecedented decline, falling to the lowest share of net generation since 1973, U.S. coal exports are about to exceed the record set by the U.S. for coal exports in 1981.
• Regulations requiring cleaner emissions from coal-fired power stations in the U.S. display the same perverse consequences. In 2008 major U.S. banks set guidelines on financing 'dirty' coal power plants taking into account foreshadowed regulations to limit emissions. The media report describing this historic initiative by major U.S. banks failed to observe that the banks never intended these guidelines were to apply to financing coal power plants outside the U.S. 

A recent report More than 1,000 new coal plants planned worldwide reflects the global ramifications of the above national policies and tinkering with national energy resources:

"World Resources Institute identifies 1,200 coal power plants in planning across 59 countries, with about three-quarters in China and India.

...New coal power plants have largely been financed by both commercial banks and development banks. JP Morgan Chase has provided more than $16.5bn for new coal plants over the past six years, followed by Citi ($13.8bn). Barclays ($11.5bn) comes in as the fifth biggest coal backer and the Royal Bank of Scotland ($10.9bn) as the seventh.

The Japan Bank for International Co-operation was the biggest development bank ($8.1bn), with the World Bank ($5.3bn) second."

Not wanting to miss out on the rapid expansion in U.S. coal exports from the U.S. east coast to Europe, new shipping terminals are planned on the length of the Pacific North West coast for an even greater boom in U.S. coal exports to Asia; Tribes Add Potent Voice Against Plan for Northwest Coal Terminals :

"Coal producers across the nation have been wounded by a sharp drop in demand in the United States — down 16.3 percent in the period from April through June, compared with the same period in 2011, to the lowest quarterly level since 2005...

That has made coal exports, which have increased this year in every region of the country except the West, according to federal figures, even more crucial to the industry than they were when the six terminals on the Pacific Coast were first proposed.

Jason Hayes, a spokesman for the American Coal Council, said that with coal-producing nations like Australia and Indonesia competing for Asian markets, a roadblock on the West Coast is an issue for the entire American economy. "

And because of opposition in the U.S. that might delay the bonanza to be made from surging U.S. coal exports to Asia, the U.S. coal industry is gearing up to send coal by rail to Canada where Coal port expansion plans rile climate activists :

"The pressure to send more coal on trains through British Columbia's Lower Mainland is coming because the U.S. coal industry needs to tap new markets in Asia but has run into serious opposition in northwestern states.

Eric de Place, a researcher with the Seattle-based Sightline Institute, said six large coal export terminals have been proposed in Washington or Oregon but activist opposition has already killed one of them.

"There's something like an insurrection going on in Oregon and Washington," he said. "People are extremely angry."

The world's biggest coal producers are in the eastern U.S., de Place said, while the biggest consumers are in Asia.

"The road between those two goes through Washington and British Columbia," he said, noting domestic U.S. coal demand has sagged as U.S. buyers shift to cleaner energy sources."