Some real Green Technology: Uses coal and is affordable.

[HOZ]

Real Engineers 1: Eviro-loonies 0

OTTAWA — In basic ways, Alex Fassbender's breakthrough in clean-coal technology retains James Watt's methodology from the 18th century. You pulverize coal into particles as fine as talcum powder, then burn it in a furnace surrounded by pipes filled with water. You direct the steam into turbines that spin to produce electricity. In other basic ways, though, it is very different. For one thing, there's no smokestack.
Mr. Fassbender is the American engineer whose invention - as tested last year in the federal government's energy labs in Ottawa - delivered clean electricity at a lower cost than the inventor himself had expected. Code-named TIPS (Thermo-energy Integrated Power System), the technology strips coal of its pollutants and captures its carbon emissions in power plants a 10th the size of conventional plants.

[MarchHare]

How is this a defeat for "enviro-loonies"? This sounds like a very clever method to generate electricity from coal without releasing CO2 emissions. This is precisely the type of thing our governments and industry should be promoting in order to position Canada as a leading nation in clean energy production.

[Cube Inmate]

For one thing, it's a defeat because many enviro-loonies would rather have us send our money overseas to buy Kyoto credits, instead of investing it in research and innovation here at home.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by Cube Inmate

For one thing, it's a defeat because many enviro-loonies would rather have us send our money overseas to buy Kyoto credits, instead of investing it in research and innovation here at home.

I'm not sure the "enviro-loonies" care as much about where the money goes as opposed to the results achieved. Sounds more like a win-win to me.

[MarchHare]

I'm not sure the "enviro-loonies" care as much about where the money goes as opposed to the results achieved. Sounds more like a win-win to me.

###.

Environmentalists want to see worldwide CO2 emissions reduced; I don't think they particularly care how that result is attained. Producing new clean energy technology that Canadian firms can sell to the world really is a win-win for both environmentalists and industry.

[Phaneuf3]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

I'm not sure the "enviro-loonies" care as much about where the money goes as opposed to the results achieved. Sounds more like a win-win to me.

i also consider it a win-win but can't really argue that this type of research is a far better solution than buying credits. its a greener solution than buying credits from other countries, allows for more sustainable development rather than a quick band-aid solution of throwing money away and should also drive the canadian economy if this technology delivers even half the potential this article says it has.

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by Cube Inmate

For one thing, it's a defeat because many enviro-loonies would rather have us send our money overseas to buy Kyoto credits, instead of investing it in research and innovation here at home.

Huh? Think globally, act locally. Your statement is contradictory. I am sure the goal of this project was to make 'enviro-loonies' look bad. Why do some people take great pleasure in and look to pat themselves on the back for thinking they are 'showing up' environmentalists?

[Cube Inmate]

Through Kyoto, we have agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a huge fraction (>20%) from current levels, for the 5-year period beginning in approximately 7 months. Research like this WILL NOT do a damn thing to help Canada meet its Kyoto commitments, because regardless of how clean it is, we can't implement it in time, or on a large enough scale, to actually have it make a dent.

Still, there are people out there whose only concern seems to be that we meet our Kyoto commitments. In the grand scheme of things, research like this is far more important to reducing emissions than any carbon credit purchase from a tin-pot dictatorship, but the Kyoto kultists don't care about that...they just want wealth re-distribution.

THOSE are the enviro-loonies I'm talking about.

[Lanny_MacDonald]

This was sort of discussed in the Al Gore thread. It is hardly new and a technology that certain states (Montana being the largest) pushing hard. It's funny, but none of the "enviro-loonies" has ever said that we have to stop using hydrocarbons/fossil fuels, they have been preaching that we must use them more efficiently and in different ways. What a bunch of "loonies".