석탄 화력발전소가 이산화탄소를 수집하고 오염원을 제거하는 능력이 문제가 아니다. 이산화탄소를 걸러내는 기술이 극적으로 향상되고 있다. 미국이 국내뿐만 아니라 해외의 오염 축소를 목표로 삼느냐 여부가 진정한 문제다.
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| 토드 타이어트 前 미 하원의원 |
뿐만 아니라 일본과 독일이 전력 생산 수단으로 석탄을 부활시키는 과정에 있다. 인도, 폴란드, 남아공 같은 다른 많은 나라들이 석탄 화력발전에 크게 의존하고 있다.
세계 기술혁신의 대다수는 미국에서 이루어지는 것이 엄연한 현실이다. 이는 선진국의 오염 해결을 위한 기술 혁신이나 첨단기술은 미국에서 개발되어야 한다는 것을 의미한다. 오바마의 ‘석탄과의 전쟁’은 그런 개발 의욕을 꺾는다.
시에라 클럽의 근시안적인 소송 제기와 맞물린 미 행정부의 석탄 관련 시설 폐쇄 강요는 세계적인 공해 해결의 인센티브를 제거하게 된다. 발전회사들은 규제와 소송에 맞서거나 법원 판결에 순종하여 세계적인 오염을 제거하는 첨단 기술을 개발하기보다는 훨씬 비싼 동력 생산 방식을 선택하고 추가비용을 소비자들에게 전가하는 편을 선택한다. 이런 추세는 미국의 일자리와 경제에 부정적 영향을 미칠 뿐 해외에서 흘러 들어오는 오염물질에 대한 해법을 제공하지 않는다.
탄소 수집 기술을 예로 들어보자. 에너지부의 국립에너지기술연구소는 현재 이산화탄소 1t의 수집 비용이 대략 61달러라고 보고한다. 그러나 기술 개량으로 비용을 당장 30달러 이하로 낮출 수 있고 미래에는 추가로 3분의 1을 줄일 수 있다.
마찬가지로 더욱 효율적인 연소기술로 일산화질소 방출량을 줄이고 있으며 배연 탈황 기술의 비용도 절반으로 줄어 개도국들이 더욱 값싼 공해 방지책을 이용할 수 있다. 이 기술이 더욱 개량될 경우 미 환경보호국 기준치 이하로 부유성 고형물과 수은을 낮출 수 있다.
대통령의 명령이 시행되어 석탄 화력발전을 폐쇄할 경우 일자리를 만드는 이런 첨단 해결책은 줄어들 것이다. 미 의회 청문회를 거치지 않은 오바마의 조치는 관련된 우려사항을 조사하지도 않았고 세계적 공해에 대한 미국의 역할도 고려하지 않았다. 오바마의 관료체제가 어떤 조치를 취하든 세계적 공해 해법을 개발하는 데 긍정적 영향을 미치지 않을 것이다.
관료적 조치보다 더 나은 해결책이 있다. 청정 석탄 기술에 대한 재생에너지 세금 공제는 미국의 화력발전 기업들이 환경상의 과제 해결책을 찾기 위해 첨단기술 회사들을 고용하도록 만드는 인센티브가 될 것이다. 그럴 경우 신기술이 개발되어 전 세계의 공해 축소에 기여할 것이다.
미국의 기술혁신이 민관 협동을 통해 환경을 개선하는 데 기여할 수 있는 역할이 합당하게 이해될 때까지 미 의회는 오바마의 환경 관련 명령에 대한 예산 배정을 보류할 필요가 있다. 그런 역할이 충분히 이해될 때 환경 문제에 대한 전 세계적 해결책이 실현될 수 있다. 미 의회가 행동에 나서지 않는다면 세계의 공해가 하늘로 침투하여 미국을 뒤덮는 사태의 책임은 미국인들에게 돌아올 것이다.
토드 타이어트 前 미 하원의원
워싱턴타임스·정리=오성환 외신전문위원
Missing 'green coal' opportunities
By Todd Tiahrt
The sky has no walls. Pollution rides the wind around the entire Earth. Developing countries are trying to mimic America's affordable and reliable coal power, but without "green coal" technologies, or pollution controls. The best way to target this worldwide contamination is to find solutions here at home. However, President Obama's plan to circumvent Congress to implement measures dealing with climate change misses the mark on pollution and carbon emissions.
The question isn't whether coal-fired electricity-generating plants can capture the carbon dioxide and eliminate pollution. Efficiencies in capture technologies are dramatically increasing. The real question is whether we will target pollution challenges not only here, but across the globe.
It takes only five days for pollution in China to reach the United States, according to Kim Prather of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Why? Because the global atmosphere is a single element. The Chinese economy needs affordable and reliable power, and coal is still one of the least expensive and most dependable ways to produce it. Their apparent refusal to stop the construction of coal-fired, electricity-generating facilities means their pollution has become our problem.
Furthermore, Japan and Germany are in the process of returning to coal as a means to produce electricity. Many other nations such as India, Poland and South Africa rely heavily on coal-powered electrical production.
Mr. Obama has issued many executive orders to supposedly help the environment, but none has any effect on pollution and carbon emissions outside the United States.
In fact, the president's agenda diminishes the chance for a global solution. Most of the world's innovations come from the United States - no bragging, just the facts. Chances are that any innovation or high-tech solution to deal with the pollution in developing countries will need to come from the United States. Mr. Obama's real or perceived "war on coal" is a disincentive for that to happen.
Forcing coal facilities to shut down - or de facto closings driven by regulations, combined with the Sierra Club's shortsighted lawsuits - removes incentive for global solutions. Power companies won't try to swim upstream against regulations, lawsuits and a complicit court system to develop the high-tech processes to deal with rampant global pollution. Instead, these corporations will likely choose sources of energy production that are significantly more expensive and pass those costs on to consumers. This will have a negative impact on American jobs and our economy, but provide no resolution to drifting contamination from other countries.
The Environmental Protection Agency addresses pollution through emission standards for sulfur dioxide and nitric oxide, acid-rain gases, particulate matter and soot, mercury and leachable toxins. Each of these pollutants can effectively be remediated today with new, lower-cost advances. Already, new technologies from one high-tech "green coal" company, when fully implemented, will result in coal emissions that are cleaner than natural-gas emissions when measured against EPA regulations, including carbon dioxide. Cleaner, less-expensive solutions are on the horizon.
Take a look at carbon-capture technology. The Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory reports that today's cost for carbon-dioxide-capture per ton is about $61. However, advancing technological improvements are available now to reduce the cost to below $30 and by an additional third in the future.
Likewise, more efficient combustion expertise is reducing nitric-oxide emissions, and the cost of flue-gas desulfurization technologies are being cut in half, making solutions more affordable for developing nations to address pollution. The more efficient flue-gas desulfurization systems also reduce particulate matter and mercury levels below EPA limits.
These high-tech, job-creating solutions will diminish as the president's executive orders are implemented and take coal power offline. Mr. Obama's actions had neither congressional hearings nor a vetting process to investigate concerns or discuss our role in dealing with pollution on a worldwide scale. What little discussion occurred was limited to comments on proposed EPA regulations, which did not include the benefits of continuing to develop solutions. No matter what the Obama administration bureaucracy does, it won't have a positive impact on developing solutions for the rest of the world.
However, there is a better idea. Renewable-energy tax credits for clean-coal technologies would incentivize American companies with coal-powered generators to employ high-tech firms to develop solutions for our environmental challenges. Subsequently, new technology will be developed that will have a global impact on reducing pollution.
Congress should withhold funding of Mr. Obama's environmental executive orders until there is a proper understanding of the role American innovation plays in creating a better environment through public- and private-sector partnerships. Only then will worldwide solutions to environmental challenges have a chance. If Congress fails to act, then the United States has only itself to blame as worldwide pollution penetrates our airspace and envelops our land.
By Todd Tiahrt
The sky has no walls. Pollution rides the wind around the entire Earth. Developing countries are trying to mimic America's affordable and reliable coal power, but without "green coal" technologies, or pollution controls. The best way to target this worldwide contamination is to find solutions here at home. However, President Obama's plan to circumvent Congress to implement measures dealing with climate change misses the mark on pollution and carbon emissions.
The question isn't whether coal-fired electricity-generating plants can capture the carbon dioxide and eliminate pollution. Efficiencies in capture technologies are dramatically increasing. The real question is whether we will target pollution challenges not only here, but across the globe.
It takes only five days for pollution in China to reach the United States, according to Kim Prather of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Why? Because the global atmosphere is a single element. The Chinese economy needs affordable and reliable power, and coal is still one of the least expensive and most dependable ways to produce it. Their apparent refusal to stop the construction of coal-fired, electricity-generating facilities means their pollution has become our problem.
Furthermore, Japan and Germany are in the process of returning to coal as a means to produce electricity. Many other nations such as India, Poland and South Africa rely heavily on coal-powered electrical production.
Mr. Obama has issued many executive orders to supposedly help the environment, but none has any effect on pollution and carbon emissions outside the United States.
In fact, the president's agenda diminishes the chance for a global solution. Most of the world's innovations come from the United States - no bragging, just the facts. Chances are that any innovation or high-tech solution to deal with the pollution in developing countries will need to come from the United States. Mr. Obama's real or perceived "war on coal" is a disincentive for that to happen.
Forcing coal facilities to shut down - or de facto closings driven by regulations, combined with the Sierra Club's shortsighted lawsuits - removes incentive for global solutions. Power companies won't try to swim upstream against regulations, lawsuits and a complicit court system to develop the high-tech processes to deal with rampant global pollution. Instead, these corporations will likely choose sources of energy production that are significantly more expensive and pass those costs on to consumers. This will have a negative impact on American jobs and our economy, but provide no resolution to drifting contamination from other countries.
The Environmental Protection Agency addresses pollution through emission standards for sulfur dioxide and nitric oxide, acid-rain gases, particulate matter and soot, mercury and leachable toxins. Each of these pollutants can effectively be remediated today with new, lower-cost advances. Already, new technologies from one high-tech "green coal" company, when fully implemented, will result in coal emissions that are cleaner than natural-gas emissions when measured against EPA regulations, including carbon dioxide. Cleaner, less-expensive solutions are on the horizon.
Take a look at carbon-capture technology. The Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory reports that today's cost for carbon-dioxide-capture per ton is about $61. However, advancing technological improvements are available now to reduce the cost to below $30 and by an additional third in the future.
Likewise, more efficient combustion expertise is reducing nitric-oxide emissions, and the cost of flue-gas desulfurization technologies are being cut in half, making solutions more affordable for developing nations to address pollution. The more efficient flue-gas desulfurization systems also reduce particulate matter and mercury levels below EPA limits.
These high-tech, job-creating solutions will diminish as the president's executive orders are implemented and take coal power offline. Mr. Obama's actions had neither congressional hearings nor a vetting process to investigate concerns or discuss our role in dealing with pollution on a worldwide scale. What little discussion occurred was limited to comments on proposed EPA regulations, which did not include the benefits of continuing to develop solutions. No matter what the Obama administration bureaucracy does, it won't have a positive impact on developing solutions for the rest of the world.
However, there is a better idea. Renewable-energy tax credits for clean-coal technologies would incentivize American companies with coal-powered generators to employ high-tech firms to develop solutions for our environmental challenges. Subsequently, new technology will be developed that will have a global impact on reducing pollution.
Congress should withhold funding of Mr. Obama's environmental executive orders until there is a proper understanding of the role American innovation plays in creating a better environment through public- and private-sector partnerships. Only then will worldwide solutions to environmental challenges have a chance. If Congress fails to act, then the United States has only itself to blame as worldwide pollution penetrates our airspace and envelops our land.
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