Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
field because various subsidies for fossil fuel and nuclear technologies have made
it difficult for renewable energy sources to compete.
Both DOE's wind and solar R and D programs have experienced a large
increase in the amount of congressional earmarks in recent years. Wind energy
earmarks grew from 6 percent of funding in fiscal year 2004 to about 33 percent
($13 million) of funding in fiscal year 2006, according to a DOE program official.
Similarly, solar energy earmarks grew from 1 percent of funding in fiscal year
2004 to about 17 percent ($14 million) of funding in fiscal year 2006, according
to a DOE program official. An industry association executive noted that
congressional earmarks reduce DOE's ability to adequately fund its solar R and D
programs and meet targets.
Barriers to Advanced Fossil Technologies Include Harmful
Emissions
and High Capital Costs of New Coal Gasification Plants
While coal-fired power plants have substantially reduced their sulfur dioxide
and nitrogen oxide emissions, electric power companies face important challenges
to deploying a new generation of advanced IGCC coal gasification power plants.
These challenges are to further reduce mercury and carbon dioxide emissions and
manage the risk associated with high construction and operating costs of new
advanced coal technologies. The administration's Clear Skies Initiative set goals
for coal-fired plants to cut their 2003 emissions—49 tons of mercury, 10.2 million
tons of sulfur dioxide, and 3.9 million tons of nitrogen oxide—by an average of
70 percent by 2018. However, coal-fired plants also annually emit 2.1 billion tons
of carbon dioxide—the most significant contributor to greenhouse gases and
global warming—or 36 percent of the nation's total carbon dioxide emissions.
EPA currently does not regulate carbon dioxide emissions but might do so in the
future to address the growing concern about the harmful effects of greenhouse
gases.
IGCC coal-gasification technology enables power plants to separate sulfur
dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury, and carbon dioxide before the synthesis gas is
burned, thus reducing their emission into the air. DOE and industry are
conducting R and D to develop sequestration technologies for the long-term
storage of carbon dioxide gas without the gas gradually leaking back into the
atmosphere. DOE has funded 25 carbon-dioxide sequestration projects as of
September 2006, but has not yet demonstrated the storage of carbon dioxide
captured by a large-scale, coal-based power plant. Specifically, when carbon
