Thursday, March 01, 2007
TWO COUNTRIES – GLOBAL PROBLEM
By Todd Glass
Thursday, March 01, 2007
China and the US are inextricably linked in their energy future. Both countries' efforts to curb climate change, maintain economic growth and gain energy security depend on coal and cleaner-coal technology.
According to the International Energy Agency, China and the US together will need 1,500 gigawatts of new net electricity generation in the next 25 years – 1.5 times current US capacity.
Yet even if both countries invest massively in renewable energy and conservation, these will account for only about 18 per cent of power needs. New nuclear generation will not come online at scale for decades. Natural gas generation is constrained by finite supplies, location and transportation.
Coal is the cheapest, most secure solution. China and the US each possess more than 30 per cent of the world's coal reserves.
In the face of climate change, however, new facilities need to be cleaner than current coal combustion technologies.
Energy is the leading source of man-made carbon emissions. And coal generation is the leading source of carbon emissions in the electric industry. The IEA estimates that US and Chinese coal plants built by 2030 will add 1.6bn tons per year of carbon to the atmosphere – equal to all US carbon emissions today.
The two countries will achieve long-term energy security and meaningful reductions in carbon emissions only by investing significantly in new energy technologies and cross-border infrastructure in the coal sector.
Billions of dollars are flooding into new energy technologies in the US. In China, Sasol is building two $5bn coal-to-liquid-fuel facilities; Chinese solar photovoltaic manufacturers are among the hottest initial public offerings; and GE and others are manufacturing wind turbines.
The technology boom has not changed coal generation in either country substantially.
First, GE, Siemens and others should work with Chinese partners to build cleaner coal gasification facilities and other generation equipment in China for deployment there and in the US.
Second, both countries should enact climate change policies that move away from conventional coal.
Third, they should encourage cross-border investment and deployment of next-generation coal generation.
Finally, both countries' governments, investors and generators should accelerate the deployment of carbon sequestration technologies. Most low-emission coal generation enables carbon emissions to be collected and disposed of geologically without fouling the atmosphere.
Co-operation and co-investment in the development of low-emission coal facilities in both the US and China would benefit the energy security of both countries and the world environment.
Todd Glass chairs the energy practice group as a partner at Heller Ehrman
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007 ¶ 2:11 AM
Thursday, March 01, 2007
China and the US are inextricably linked in their energy future. Both countries' efforts to curb climate change, maintain economic growth and gain energy security depend on coal and cleaner-coal technology.
According to the International Energy Agency, China and the US together will need 1,500 gigawatts of new net electricity generation in the next 25 years – 1.5 times current US capacity.
Yet even if both countries invest massively in renewable energy and conservation, these will account for only about 18 per cent of power needs. New nuclear generation will not come online at scale for decades. Natural gas generation is constrained by finite supplies, location and transportation.
Coal is the cheapest, most secure solution. China and the US each possess more than 30 per cent of the world's coal reserves.
In the face of climate change, however, new facilities need to be cleaner than current coal combustion technologies.
Energy is the leading source of man-made carbon emissions. And coal generation is the leading source of carbon emissions in the electric industry. The IEA estimates that US and Chinese coal plants built by 2030 will add 1.6bn tons per year of carbon to the atmosphere – equal to all US carbon emissions today.
The two countries will achieve long-term energy security and meaningful reductions in carbon emissions only by investing significantly in new energy technologies and cross-border infrastructure in the coal sector.
Billions of dollars are flooding into new energy technologies in the US. In China, Sasol is building two $5bn coal-to-liquid-fuel facilities; Chinese solar photovoltaic manufacturers are among the hottest initial public offerings; and GE and others are manufacturing wind turbines.
The technology boom has not changed coal generation in either country substantially.
First, GE, Siemens and others should work with Chinese partners to build cleaner coal gasification facilities and other generation equipment in China for deployment there and in the US.
Second, both countries should enact climate change policies that move away from conventional coal.
Third, they should encourage cross-border investment and deployment of next-generation coal generation.
Finally, both countries' governments, investors and generators should accelerate the deployment of carbon sequestration technologies. Most low-emission coal generation enables carbon emissions to be collected and disposed of geologically without fouling the atmosphere.
Co-operation and co-investment in the development of low-emission coal facilities in both the US and China would benefit the energy security of both countries and the world environment.
Todd Glass chairs the energy practice group as a partner at Heller Ehrman
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007 ¶ 2:11 AM
