coal section is pretty weak. see below. The whole plan is attached. Pls
review at your leisure. paul
COAL INDUSTRY'S ROLE
New Technology to Fight Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Efficiency First--Maximize Energy Efficiency to Address Coal Demand: A 2006
McKinsey
Global Insight study of global energy efficiency potential found that all
future energy service
demand growth in North America can be met through cost-effective energy
efficiency
investments, such as greener building technologies and more efficient
vehicles. Recent examples
prove that efficiency can dramatically reduce the need to build new power
plants. Earlier this
year, investors acquired TXU and scrapped plans to build 8 of 11 planned
coal-fired power
plants in Texas. Part of the plan to replace the 8 planned power plants was
a $400 million
increase in expenditures on customer efficiency. To maximize the potential
for efficiency,
Hillary would direct state utility commissions to ensure that before
approving an application to
build a coal plant, there is an evaluation of whether the energy services
provided by that plant
could be met by cost-effective investments in energy efficiency.
Accelerating the Development of Clean Coal
Coal plays a major role in America's energy mix, powering fifty percent of
America's electricity
generation, and we still have enormous coal reserves. At the same time,
coal-fired power plants
are the largest contributor to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, and are
responsible for emissions of
mercury and other dangerous pollutants. Hillary understands that continuing
to build new coal
plants in the same way that we have in the past will make it extremely
difficult to meet our
climate change goals. Hillary's plan includes many components that would
alleviate the need for
additional coal plants in the coming years. For example, hr strong
efficiency measures will
reduce the need for new power plants.
Hillary also believes that we need to take swift action to spur the
development and deployment
of technology and practices that will enable us to capture, store and safely
sequester carbon
dioxide from coal-fired power plants. To accelerate the development of this
important
technology, Hillary would put immediate funding towards 10 large scale
carbon capture and
storage projects that utilize a range of coal types, power plant types, and
storage locations. She
will move quickly to develop the regulatory framework to ensure that carbon
sequestration can
be done safely and reliably. And she will require all new coal plants to be
capable of adding
capture and storage technology when it becomes commercially available.
--
Paul Wilson
Sierra Club
504 Jefferson Ave
Charles Town, WV 25414-1130
Phone: 304-725-4360
Cell: 304-279-6975