ALTERNATIVES:

The Other Black Gold (BRIAN SCHWEITZER, 10/03/05, NY Times)

Most people are surprised to learn that we can produce gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other petroleum products out of coal. Indeed, the process was used in America as early as 1928. In World War II, 92 percent of Germany's aviation fuel and half its total petroleum came from synthetic-fuel plants. South Africa has used a similar technology for 50 years, and now makes 200,000 barrels per day of synthetic gasoline and diesel.

"Synfuels" have remarkable properties: they are high-performing substances that run in existing engines without any technical modifications, and they burn much more cleanly than conventional fuels. The synfuel process, which is nothing like conventional coal use, removes greenhouse gases as well as toxins like sulfur, mercury and arsenic. And the technology has other applications: a synfuel plant can generate electric power, make synthetic natural gas, and produce the hydrogen that many (including President Bush) believe is the energy source of the future.

Montana thinks synfuels make a lot of sense for America, especially since our state has 120 billion tons of coal, more than a third of America's reserves. That's the liquid fuel equivalent of one-quarter of the oil underlying the Middle East. Responsible development of even a small fraction of these reserves could give America control over the price of gas, dissolve the oil bonds that tie us to the Middle East, and create wealth and jobs that would remain on American soil.

Gas Lite (DAVID BODANIS, 10/03/05, NY Times)

[T]he United States can have a cleaner, low-carbon energy future if it makes greater use of a low-carbon fuel - namely, natural gas. [...]

A third class of fuel - energy gases - emerged in the mid-1900's. The most important of these was natural gas, which has far less polluting carbon and even more clean hydrogen in it than oil. It seemed inevitable, as gas began its rise, that the new fuel would be substituted for older, less efficient ones. But then, in the late 1970's, something happened. The rise of natural gas slowed, while the decline of coal abruptly halted.

Legislation passed by Congress was to blame. The Fuel Use Act of 1978, supported by the coal companies, blocked the use of natural gas for utility and industrial power. [...]

This summer's omnibus energy bill does little to remedy that. Instead it strongly supports coal-generated electric plants. Only taxpayer subsidies can keep the carbon emissions from that archaic fuel pouring skyward. And President Bush has ensured that Environmental Protection Agency guidelines allow the coal industry to cut down entire mountains in the eastern United States. The resulting coal mining boom is likely to last for decades, given the cycle of investment. It will also increase the likelihood that the United States will remain the biggest contributor to global warming.

Luckily, there's an easy way to get America out of this fix. Making it slightly more costly for energy generators to emit carbon dioxide would quickly lead them to turn toward low-carbon natural gas. Indeed, a consortium of Northeastern states is working on price incentives to that end. The result would be less soot and fewer other pollutants - as well as a lot less ancient carbon sent billowing into our planet's rapidly filling atmosphere.

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 3, 2005 8:56 AM