Stephen Chu

Stephen Chu has just been to his confirmation hearing, and is expected to be confirmed easily as the new energy secretary after Obama is sworn in. He had a few interesting things to say:

"I think it is imperative to use coal as cleanly as possible".

"If the world continues to use coal the way we're using it today -- and the world I mean in particular, not only the United States, but China, India and Russia -- then, it is a pretty bad dream".

"But I also stay say many times in my talks that coal is an abundant resource in the world. Two-thirds of the known coal reserves in the world lie in only four countries, the United States first and foremost, followed by India, China, and Russia".

"India and China, Russia, and the United States, I believe, will not turn their back on coal. So, it is imperative that we figure out a way to use coal as cleanly as possible. And for that reason, and I think again, as scientists we will develop those technologies, to capture a large fraction of the carbon dioxide that’s emitted by coal plants to safely sequester them".

"So if confirmed as Secretary of Energy I will work very hard to extensively develop these technologies so that the United States and the rest of the world can use it".

"I also think that, I mean, there are some people in the United States who feel perhaps we should turn off coal, but even if we do it, China and India will not. And so we are in a position to develop those technologies so that the world can capture the carbon."

"We will be building some coal plants, and one doesn't have a hard moratorium on something like that while we search for a way to capture carbon safely. It's very analogous in my mind."

...so he will permit new coal fired power stations to be built even though CCS has not yet fully been deployed, whilst simultaneously pushing the technology forwards at some speed.

Perfect. Couldn't have asked for more.