Asia Energy - Coal and Power for Bangladesh

Last post today , this is from the Bangladesh Observer



Making Wise Use Of Coal

Brian Schweitzer, writing in The New York Times said America has a substance abuse problem, and Montana may have a cure. It is easy to forget, but before the hurricanes bumped up already outrageous fuel prices, President Bush was forced to ask the royals of Saudi Arabia - the country that gave us 15 of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers - to lower the price of oil so Americans could afford to drive. He was refused. In truth, he had no choice. America is addicted to foreign oil, and like any addict we are at the mercy of the pushers and require an intervention. Something similar can be said of us because, like everything else, we love to ape the US. If America does wizen up and begins promoting a range of modern domestic energy strategies, and we copy them, we can also produce gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other petroleum products out of coal.

With the oil price consistently rising, we may have no other choice and like China and India we must also tap all possible avenues to ensure the availability of oil and gas to meet future demands. In a global energy scenario, coal -- once regarded as black gold -- has apparently begun to regain its lost glory. The demand for coal has been on the rise in the international market. And the turnaround in the future of coal has made a number of international energy companies interested in extracting coal deposits in the northern part of Bangladesh.

Like the industrialised countries, we are also looking for ways to reduce our reliance on imported oil. The European Union plans to invest in clean coal research -- in addition to plans to increase the share of renewable energy sources such as wind turbines and hydroelectric dams to 22 percent of all electricity generated by 2010. By combining clean coal technology with new techniques for trapping and storing greenhouse gases -- also many years away from commercial feasibility -- the United States hopes to achieve "significant reductions" in emissions from coal plants. Against this world scenario, the government needs to plan now the best use of its coal for the generation of electricity as concerns over the future of the world's energy supplies are genuine.

When US Energy Secretary Sam Bodman called for more international efforts to develop coal as an alternative energy source, there was little sign of enthusiasm among other IEA members for a return to coal as the technology is still at the research stage. Nevertheless, Brussels believes investment in clean coal would set a "good example for countries like China, which still have lots of coal." A US energy official was in Beijing recently seeking Chinese investment to build the first zero-emissions coal-fired power plant. The US government research project, called FuturaGen, would turn coal into gas before burning it and then trap pollutants so they aren't released into the atmosphere.

As for ourselves, the country’s leading experts opine there would be no power crisis in the next 50 years, if coal-based power plants are set up by using coal from five coal reserves discovered so far in the country. As such we should consider carefully the process that 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 cleanlier than conventional fuels. The synfuel process, which is nothing like conventional coal use, removes greenhouse gases as well as toxins like sulphur, 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. So what are the drawbacks? The hurdle in making synfuel has always been the cost of production, about $35 a barrel, more expensive than oil has historically been. But as we all know, times have changed.