November 23, 2009

The U.S. coal-fired electric power industry is without doubt facing ever-increasing challenges in its efforts to remain a viable fuel.

Impending legislation and regulations concerning allowable carbon dioxide emissions, in whatever form these rules might ultimately take, are putting growing pressure on coal-burning utilities to invest in carbon-capture technology research and to diversify their energy portfolios.

November 20, 2009

Business has slowed. And so too has the demand for carbon emission allowances -- those credits that are traded among European nations and some American utilities as a way to motivate a transition to a carbon-free global economy.

If commerce were humming along, manufacturing and utility plants would be increasing production and thereby raising their emission levels. Because they are cutting back their operations, however, they are in essence keeping a lid on that pollution. In a world that is moving steadily toward pricing each ton of carbon released into the atmosphere, that dynamic has dampened the trading of carbon allowances.

November 18, 2009

Green technologies will soon get greater export assistance. The U.S. Export-Import Bank is touting its newfound policy, although it is the direct result of a lawsuit filed more than six years ago by environmentalists and cities.

At this point, the agency has provided few details as to how it would achieve its aims. It is now setting up a $250 million lending facility to back green exports as well as to improve the bank's transparency in the tracking and reporting of carbon emissions from projects that it supports. The move, which is part of the settlement reached in February, is not enough, say environmental and civic activists, who add that it does nothing to limit the institution's activities in the area of fossil fuels.

November 09, 2009

Coal combustion waste may be reclassified as a hazardous waste. That's a significant change from its current categorization as a solid waste, which has created a secondary market for the byproduct in recycling circles.

The investigations into coal ash have been ongoing but the pace has picked up over the last year after a retention wall broke, allowing 5.4 million yards of yuck to escape into the Tennessee Valley Authority's territories. So, after years of checking it out, the current U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is likely to act by year-end to reclassify it, noting that increasing evidence exists to suggest that coal ash adversely affects human health and the environment.

October 23, 2009

The gleaming, metallic gray Schwarze Pumpe coal-generating complex rises in eastern Germany, not far from the Polish border. At the facility, Vattenfall is now running one of the most advanced efforts in the world to capture carbon for long-term storage.

The project is relatively small in scope. A visitor can circle the equipment in a 5-minute stroll. But the national and economic stakes are huge. There is now a growing consensus that the future of the global economy, the energy sector and the environment will in large part depend on whether an affordable way can be found to capture and sequester carbon dioxide, which is created as coal is burned. At stake, some estimate, will be tens of trillions of dollars.