candooman

Energy Secretary Chu Wimps Out Again

The appointment of Chu was a mistake. Chu is intelligent as proven by his earning a PhD Degree and being awarded a Nobel Prize. However, his intelligence does not include the ability to see the big picture (earned his PhD on a narrow subject) nor make him a good leader or administrator. What he has done so far proves this.

Chu has yet to understand that there is no such thing as clean coal. Assuming coal can be cleaned (which researchers know can't be done economically), how much of the CO2 generated by burning coal can be captured, pumped and sequestered underground and for how long? When the underground storage is filled up in a few years, what then? He is pursuing and spending our limited resources and time on somthing that has no future.

Instead of pursuing clean coal he should be spending money on completing the research in the nuclear field. He should start a Manhattan type projects to complete a prototype on fast breeder reactor, pebble bed reactor and thorium fueled reactors which can supply us with electric power for centuries or more to come. Nuclear can replace not only coal power plants but indirectly, a good part of the energy we use for transportation. More cars will be electric, most deisel/electric trains can be converted to full electric, electric light rail can be returned for city transport, etc. Oil and gas will still play a big role in transportation (airplanes and big ships specially) but will be a much smaller percentage of the total world enery consumption. It is the answer to reversing climate change. It also is a great opportunity to make us less energy dependent. This is the big picture not only Chu is missing but also Obama and Congress.

As to natural gas, no matter how much you sugar coat it, it still procues CO2 as it's end product when burned as fuel. Hence, it is not a good answer. Natural gas is really best used as feedstock for the chemical industry for making medicine, plastics, fabricks, etc.