Homework 2

Global warming is a very real issue that is getting increasingly closer every day. But what can we do to counteract it when we use so much of fossil fuels and we emit so much CO2? Well, according to this article, it's integrated gasification combined cycle, or IGCC.

Coal has always been a source of fuel, and it's the best and worse of its kind. It's cheap and easy to extract, but it also pollutes in large amounts. It's the cause of killer smog, acid rain, atmospheric carbon dioxide, mercury pollution, and acid mine drainage. Scientists say that the negatives far outweigh the positives and "coal-fired power plants are the single largest source of man-made CO2, accounting for one quarter to one third of the world's total."

Coal-generated power plants built in the 1960s now need to be replaced. However, they're not environmentally friendly, and just one plant will produce 6 million tons of CO2 a year. That's not even the half of it; If you look at things globally, it's even worse. China is increasing their coal usage dramatically, it's almost more than what the US uses. According to Roel Hammerschlag, coal is worse than oil, and CO2 emissions are much 10 times what they were in the preindustrial times. However, the scientists have an idea to capture the emissions as they come out, and be stored below the earth's surface, also called carbon capture and sequestration. Coal gasification creates an end product that cleans the synthesis gas, "removing impurities from the methane stream." This plant sells these synthesized products to other companies, however, they still produce a lot of CO2, making them no different than the coal plants.

"If coal is to have a future as a major fuel in the twenty-first century and beyond, this is what it might look like: smokestacks effectively turned upside down, shooting C02 into subterranean rock formations rather than up into the sky." Is this really good? Many say it is and that the CO2 is indeed staying put.

Another way of CO2 sequestration is called saline aquifers, or brine formations. They're found where you can find oil and gas reservoirs, where there are porous rocks. The brine formations are very salty, so they run a low risk of contaminating anything. Rough studies in the 1990s suggested that 50,000 billion tons of CO2 can be stored in these formations.

IGCC- generating carbon-free electricity from coal. There is a plant in Tampa and they are 15% more efficient than pulverized-coal plants. It can capture SO2, NOx, and mercury more because they remove them before they burn the coal.

Natural gas prices have gone up significantly, so many of these plants are getting repossessed by banks. The US isn't too fond of IGCC because the cost would make it harder to compete with China and India.

GE is contributing largely to the IGCC idea. They pledged to reduce their global warming emissions and they also built the turbines used in the Tampa plant. However, the Wisconsin Public Service Commission stated that "IGCC technology, while promising, is still expensive and requires more maturation." They also said that it might raise electricity rates and they just want to protect consumers. However, consumer-protection and environmental groups have appealed this.

In Minnesota, however, they are going to build an IGCC plant and hopefully have it operating by 2011. Micheletti of that plant says that it will cost more upfront to build this plant, but if you look at it from the life-cycle cost side, it's the best bet.

Some also think that the technology will be "finicky and less reliable." However, the Tampa IGCC plant was the most reliable coal-fired plant in 2004.

Words I didn't know

Brobdingnagian- adjective describing anything of colossal size

Hangar- a closed structure to hold aircraft and/or spacecraft in protective storage

Questions

Global warming is an issue that's doesn't have just one solution, it's going to take time to stop. However, IGCC is definitely something that might slow it down. Our society relies on fossil fuels far too heavily, and as a result, we're destroying our planet. Putting the CO2 into the ground honestly scares me. What is it going to do to the land area around it? What if it somehow leaks into water supplies? Maybe I'm wrong, and maybe it'll work.The technology for this is undoubtedly amazing though. So, why not try it?