Al Gore urges ‘Civil Disobedience’
Speaking at a Clinton Global Initiative gathering, Nobel Prize winner and former Vice President of the US Al Gore urged a Gandhian style Civil Disobedience to stop new coal plants which do not have CCS capabilities. Mr. Gore said:
“If you’re a young person looking at the future of this planet and looking at what is being done right now, and not done, I believe we have reached the stage where it is time for civil disobedience to prevent the construction of new coal plants that do not have carbon capture and sequestration,”
While there is still significant amount of active research in the area, the industry has been reluctant to implement CCS technologies due to the high capital costs as well as higher costs to consumer. For instance for a pulverized coal plant, the cost of electricity with CCS is expected to increase by 43-91% whereas for an IGCC (Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle) plant the increase is in the range of 21-78% (source: IPCC Special Report on Carbon Capture and Sequestration, Table TS.10). Such an approach still requires strong incentives on part of the government to become commercially feasible. While Mr. Gore was not clear on what action he expected, I believe it is a demand that concerned citizens put pressure on their representatives towards passing legislation in this regard. In any case, I am sure that we will be hearing more about this in the near future.
Tags: Climate Change, Policy, Sequestration