Wednesday, January 14, 2009

The Obama - Biden proposal

Sadly this isn't as interesting as the Blair-Brown pact, but it deserves a mention.

Power engineering has some of its proposals - and it appears to include paying for an upgrade for coal fired power stations - "The Obama-Biden proposal would invest in low emissions coal plants, the definition of which has been somewhat ambiguous based on Obama's public statements".

I don't think that this will include carbon capture and storage plants in the first instant. Yes, they will probably build some - but not at every new power station. The technology isn't at the stage where it can be deployed on the 20th January (6 days time!). Yes, it's getting there, but it's not quite there.

Build the plants first, take a free 20% CO2 reduction and then fit carbon capture and storage in a few years time. Not only will this create employment next week, but it will reduce carbon emissions.

How you get there matters - the Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Appeals Board might have blocked all coal fired power stations unless they have CCS fitted - but I'm not sure if anyone is certain. Perhaps Obama-Biden can sort that out, amounts the thousands of other problems, when they get into office?

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