As the whole waking world must know Barack Obama has been elected as the 44th President of the United States.
Awsome.
His victory speech is inspiring stuff.
What does he plan on coal?
Well, according to his website, the democrats will deploy five full scale carbon capture and storage enable plants.
This is in addition to implementing an 80% emission reduction program by 2050.
That's great news.
Even better news is the 1 million plug in hybrids that are sought.
I have to say that this morning, I'm feeling rather pleased.
Showing posts with label electric vehicles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label electric vehicles. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Presidential electoral pledges
With the candidates for the presidency announcing their energy policies I thought that I might take a quick peek.
What surprised me was what Mr. Obama was proposing - an 80% reduction in America's CO2 emissions by 2050.
Wow.
What surprised me more is that McCain is also talking about reductions - and this time with interim targets. He's only talking about 60% by 2050. All the same, the extra interim targets could make this the better plan - which makes a bigger difference to global warming (imagine if all of Obama's 80% reduction came in 2049...).
He's also talking about investing in CCS, electric vehicles and smart meters.
Now, I suspect that Obama would do the same thing - he's just not yet published enough details for us to work out the details.
So, in summary, if either the Democrats or Republicans get into the White House, and keep their promises, the world could become a very different place.
What surprised me was what Mr. Obama was proposing - an 80% reduction in America's CO2 emissions by 2050.
Wow.
What surprised me more is that McCain is also talking about reductions - and this time with interim targets. He's only talking about 60% by 2050. All the same, the extra interim targets could make this the better plan - which makes a bigger difference to global warming (imagine if all of Obama's 80% reduction came in 2049...).
He's also talking about investing in CCS, electric vehicles and smart meters.
Now, I suspect that Obama would do the same thing - he's just not yet published enough details for us to work out the details.
So, in summary, if either the Democrats or Republicans get into the White House, and keep their promises, the world could become a very different place.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Coal to liquids
I'm not a haulier.
This said I can't help but notice that they're coming into central london again today to protest against the rising price of fuel.
This is a democracy, I've no problem with this.
I would be concerned if the government gave in to them and gave them a rebate.
Not only is this meant to be a tax raising government (after all the credit crunch means that corportation tax receipts are down) - which means that I will have to pay for the rebate, but the high price of road fuels has done something to reduce the demand at the pump - this is only a good thing.
It also makes electric cars (which I see as the future) more economic.
So why am I talking about this?
I heard recently that the US navy are considering a coal to liquid plant to decrease their costs and increase their fuel security.
I'm told that the USAF have also recently trialed coal to liquid fuel in their (modified) aircraft.
The problem with this is that CO2 emissions associated with liquids from the coal to liquid process are almost twice that of normal hydrocarbons. Carbon capture and storage technoglogy can of course bring this down.
My argument is that the government should keep taxes as they are to push electric vehicles. These don't require road fuels with such high emissions.
As for the truckers? They say that the market is distorted since they are being undercut by cheap diesel from overseas firms. Fine - why doesn't the government charge £200 a week in road tax for all vehicles over 7.5 tonnes not registered in the UK? The Austrians and Swiss have a similar (although cheaper) system.
This said I can't help but notice that they're coming into central london again today to protest against the rising price of fuel.
This is a democracy, I've no problem with this.
I would be concerned if the government gave in to them and gave them a rebate.
Not only is this meant to be a tax raising government (after all the credit crunch means that corportation tax receipts are down) - which means that I will have to pay for the rebate, but the high price of road fuels has done something to reduce the demand at the pump - this is only a good thing.
It also makes electric cars (which I see as the future) more economic.
So why am I talking about this?
I heard recently that the US navy are considering a coal to liquid plant to decrease their costs and increase their fuel security.
I'm told that the USAF have also recently trialed coal to liquid fuel in their (modified) aircraft.
The problem with this is that CO2 emissions associated with liquids from the coal to liquid process are almost twice that of normal hydrocarbons. Carbon capture and storage technoglogy can of course bring this down.
My argument is that the government should keep taxes as they are to push electric vehicles. These don't require road fuels with such high emissions.
As for the truckers? They say that the market is distorted since they are being undercut by cheap diesel from overseas firms. Fine - why doesn't the government charge £200 a week in road tax for all vehicles over 7.5 tonnes not registered in the UK? The Austrians and Swiss have a similar (although cheaper) system.
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