Fossil Fuel Industry Shows Its Muscle

I suspect the suppliers of carbon based energy feel a little threatened at the moment. Oil may or may not be getting scarce, but there's enough coal to last hundreds of years. It's a depressing prospect for 'Big Energy' (BE) that much of it will remain in the ground.

The era of cheap carbon based energy is coming to a close, but BE has no intention of going down without a fight.

If anyone doubts BE's influence, look no further than the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate meeting in Sydney this week. A casual observer would be forgiven for thinking it was an industry bash, rather than an inter-government meeting. The ministers toed the BE line, saying 'no' to emission targets, performance indicators and other inconvenient measures.

Alternative energy sources hardly rated a mention.

Instead, our brave government glove puppets officials bet the farm on Carbon Capture and Storage. (BCC)

BCC is the collection and processing of CO2 directly from the powerstation, then pumping it deep underground where hopefully it will remain out of harms way. The problem is, of course, that it's easier said than done.

Large coal fired power stations burn astonishing amounts of coal. The plants in NSW consume millions of tonnes per year. For every tonne of coal burnt, you get roughly two tonnes of CO2. The hot gas has to be collected, cooled and compressed on the fly, then transported to an area suitable for CO2 sequestration. Surprisingly, the areas where power stations are situated are not necessarily suitable for storage. The gas may need to be transported for hundreds of kilometers.

The capital costs and the energy it will take to process these amounts of CO2 are going to make a big dent in the cost effectiveness of coal fired power stations. Estimates are that the power will be between 43 and 90 percent more expensive. I wouldn't be surprised if that's conservative.

All of a sudden, those barely mentioned, costly energy alternatives have become a lot more attractive.