Clean Energy - If not now, When?

Carbon Dioxide From Power Plants

Carbon dioxide (co2) is created when fossil fuels such as coal and oil are burned. It also occurs naturally, and plays an important role in regulating the Earth's temperature. Our atmpsphere is covered by a layer of water vapor, co2, and other compounds which, like the glass of a greenhouse , help regulate the Earth's climate.

Too much co2, however, causes excess heat to be trapped in the atmosphere, forcing temperatures upward, the phenomenon known as global warming. Since the dawn of the industrial revolution, co2 in the atmosphere has increased 30 percent.

Coal-Burning Power Plants Account for Nearly One-Third of CO2 Emissions
Fossil fuel combustion accounts for 99% of the total US co2 emissions. 1 Among fossil fuels, coal contains the highest amount of carbon. In fact, while only 56% of power plants in the US are fueled by coal, they account for more than 88% of all co2 emitted by the power industry. 2

Loophole Helps Keep Oldest, Dirtiest, Power Plants Going
When the Clean Air Act was amended in 1970 and 1977, the power industry argued that their oldest, dirtiest, power plants would soon be replaced by new, cleaner, power plants, and therefore should be exempt from new emission regulations. Almost 30 years later, only a handful of the grandfathered power plants have been retired, yet they are still largely exempt from modern, state-of-the-art pollution control requirements.

As a result of this "pollution subsidy," the electric industry is relying on its oldest, dirtiest plants more than ever. For instance, between 1992 and 1998, the amount of electricity generated from dirty and old "grandfathered" coal-fired power plants increased by almost 16%. 3

The Clean Air Act grandfather loophole creates a powerful economic incentive for the electric industry to operate its dirty old coal plants. This means that more coal is burned than would be absent the grandfather loophole, and more coal means more co2 in our environment.

CO2 From Power Plants Damages Our Environment
Since 1750, atmospheric co2 concentrations have increased 30%, from 228 parts per million by volume to 360 parts per million, and levels of other greenhouse gases have also increased. At this rate, the co2 in the atmosphere will increase to 560 parts per million - double pre-industrial levels - by 2050. The sooner we start reducing co2 emissions the better because co2 and the other global warming pollutants remain in the atmosphere for decades or even centuries.

Global warming has been linked with devastating environmental impacts , including an increase in the number and severity of hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and droughts. These events exact a terrible toll in terms of both human suffering and economic losses. Global warming is also thought to enable "tropical" diseases such as encephalitis and malaria to spread northward into regions that were previously too cool for them to thrive.

The Need for CO2 Reductions
Climate disruption from continuation of current emission practices in the US and around the world threatens deep and long-lasting economic costs, environmental damage and social disruption. Averting these threats requires that global warming greenhouse gas emissions, especially from fossil fuel energy generation, be reduced substantially over the coming decades.

Dirty Old Power Plants Must Be Forced to Reduce CO2 Emissions
The global warming crisis caused by co2 and other greenhouse gas emissions can be meaningfully addressed only when the 30-year grandfather loophole for power plants in the Clean Air Act is finally closed, and other measures are taken to drastically reduce the amount of co2 emitted by power plants. Dirty old coal-fired power plants must - at a minimum - be made to comply with the modern pollution control standards. Closing the loophole is only the first step in reducing co2 pollution to the degree necessary for the US to do its fair share to combat global warming.

Footnotes:

1) U.S. EPA "National Emissions: Carbon Dioxide," www.epa.gov/globalwarming/emissions/national/co2.html

2) U.S. EPA "Emissions Data for U.S. Power Plants"

3) US PIRG and Environmental Working Group, "Up In Smoke," (Compiled from US Department of Energy (DOE) and USEPA data).