|
Dear
EarthTalk: As I understand it, coal that is used
to fuel power plants and other industrial activity is a
key culprit in pollution and climate change. So what is
“clean coal” and is it really?
-- Matthew Oliver,
Minneapolis, MN
|
|
Coal
is our cheapest, most abundant -- and dirtiest --
fuel source. 'Clean coal' proponents want to purify
and liquefy it for use in diesel-powered autos. But
green groups say producing liquid coal pollutes more
than petroleum-derived fuel and that using it in autos
would be like 'turning a hybrid Prius into a Hummer.
© Getty Images
|
The
term “clean coal” describes various processes
that remove pollutants from coal, our cheapest, most abundant—and
dirtiest—energy source. By reducing coal’s environmental
footprint through technological wizardry, the coal mining
industry and the Bush administration hope to keep coal,
which currently produces more than half of all U.S. electricity,
a big part of our energy picture for many years to come.
Clean coal proponents
also want to liquefy coal to turn it into a form of automotive
fuel that, according to the industry-sponsored Coal-to-Liquids
Coalition, costs less and burns cleaner in some ways than
the traditional diesel fuel it could replace. Several members
of Congress from coal states are keen on having the government
subsidize the production of so-called liquid coal—which
can be used anywhere diesel fuel currently goes—as
a “homegrown” alternative to foreign oil. Industry
analysts say there is enough coal in America to last hundreds
of years, saving us untold expense and trouble obtaining
regular petroleum from unfriendly foreign governments.
But major environmental
groups, from the Sierra Club to the Natural Resources Defense
Council, say that “clean coal” is anything but.
The process involves heating coal to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit
and mixing it with water to produce a gas, then converting
the gas into diesel fuel. Although the Coal-to-Liquids Coalition
says that carbon dioxide emissions from the entire production
cycle of liquid coal are “equal to, or slightly below,
those of conventional petroleum-derived fuels,” its
claims are based on a single federal study, now six years
old, that environmental leaders disagree with profoundly.
Jim Presswood,
federal energy advocate of the Natural Resources Defense
Council says, “Liquid CO2 emissions are twice as much
as emissions from conventional petroleum-derived fuels.”
He says that even if CO2 emissions were captured as part
of the process, at best liquid coal would be 12 percent
worse than the gasoline equivalent. As some environmentalists
have put it, liquid coal can turn any hybrid Prius into
a Hummer.
The Washington
Post editorialized, “To wean the U.S. off of just one
million barrels of the 21 million barrels of crude oil consumed
daily, an estimated 120 million tons of coal would need
to be mined each year. The process requires vast amounts
of water, particularly a concern in the parched West. And
the price of a plant is estimated at $4 billion.” Also,
in recent years, particularly in Appalachia, mining companies
have gone from simple excavation to blasting off the tops
of mountains in an ecologically devastating process known
as “mountain top removal.”
For their part,
greens acknowledge the importance of cleaning up coal and
other dirty energy sources, but would rather see more funding
devoted to researching, developing and implementing alternative
and renewable energy sources that don’t come with so
much environmental baggage.
CONTACTS:
Coal-to-Liquids
Coalition; Sierra
Club’s “Stopping the Coal Rush”
Dear EarthTalk:
Everybody says stop using plastic bags, but what about
all the plastic, cellophane, cardboard and other materials
used for packaging the food itself? What can we do to reduce
how much of this unnecessary stuff comes wrapped around
our food?
-- Sunil Sreedharan,
Mumbai, India
|
|
One
way to reduce food packaging waste is to buy in bulk.
Most natural foods stores have large bulk-buying sections,
like the one pictured here, so you can haul away in
large bags the equivalent of many containers of beans,
pastas, rice or other staples.
© mattieb, courtesy Flickr
|
Yes, food packaging
is a big problem in North America as well as elsewhere around
the world, with landfills filling up and recyclers facing
a glut of materials to process. It’s hard to say just
how much of the 130 million tons of paper, plastic and metals
that get tossed or sorted for recycling in major U.S. cities
is from food packaging, but the percentage is no doubt sizable.
The main problem is in the psychology of marketing: Manufacturers
know that products in big flashy-looking packages attract
more buyers.
A 1994 European
Union directive requires companies operating in its 27 member
nations to take back and recycle (or otherwise deal with,
taking the burden off of local communities) at least 60
percent of their packaging waste, including that used for
food items. But no such “producer pays” laws,
which provide incentive for manufacturers to cut back on
waste to begin with, exist in the United States or Canada.
As such, it falls to consumers to patronize stores and manufacturers
that minimize packaging.
One way to take
a bite out of packaging is to buy as much in bulk as your
family can keep up with. It may take longer to get through
that gigantic box of cereal you got at Costco, but think
of all the cardboard and plastic your bulk purchase saved
over buying several small boxes. Similarly, instead of sending
the kids off to school every day with a new juice box in
the lunch bag, how about a safe metal or plastic reusable,
washable container that you can refill each morning from
the gallon jug you keep in the fridge?
Another way to
forego packaging is to reduce time spent in large supermarkets,
where wasteful product packaging rules. Most natural foods
stores have large bulk-buying sections so you can haul away
in large paper or plastic bags the equivalent of many containers
of beans, pastas, rice or other staples. Frequenting local
farmers’ markets—armed with your reusable shopping
tote, of course—is another way to keep food packaging
out of your home. The website Local Harvest offers a free
searchable database of farms across the U.S. that run Community
Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs and participate in
farmers’ markets.
It’s worth
noting that we tend to toss way too much food packaging
where a quick rinse would make the same cans, jars and jugs
useful storage containers or quality recycling fodder. Soup
cans, for example, can easily be recycled into new steel
and are collected universally by municipal recycling programs.
And while you’re buying soup, opt for the family size
cans and save leftovers instead of buying single-serving
containers. Even when packaging material is recyclable,
there’s no reason to waste it, as even recycling uses
resources and costs money.
Beyond shopping
and sorting more responsibly, individuals also have the
power of their voices to pressure food makers to cut back
on packaging. You can also try to persuade your elected
officials to look into the feasibility of enacting “producer
pays” laws in your community, city or state. And you
can talk to co-workers, friends, relatives and others about
the importance of buying in bulk and reducing waste.
CONTACTS:
European
Union Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive; Local
Harvest
|
A
SYNDICATED COLUMN ONLY ON AMERICAJR.COM
|
