[DEBATE] : US CO2 goals 'to be compromised'

[Riaz K Tayob]

[Domestic pressure means we will have to let the world burn, go to war 
in a couple of places, and keep the majority of the world's population 
in poverty... the end of history is over so we deserve it....]

US CO2 goals 'to be compromised'
By Roger Harrabin
Environment analyst, BBC News

'If we say we want something more aggressive it could delay the process'

US Energy Secretary Steven Chu says the US will not be able to cut 
greenhouse emissions as much as it should due to domestic political 
opposition.

Prof Chu told BBC News he feared the world might be heading towards a 
tipping point on climate change.

This meant the US had to cut emissions urgently - even if compromises 
were needed to get new laws approved.

Environmentalists said Prof Chu, a Nobel physicist, should be guided by 
science not politics.

The American political system is in the throes of a fierce battle over 
climate policy. President Barack Obama says he wants cuts in greenhouse 
gases but has left it to Congress to make the political running.

The House of Representatives is debating a climate and energy bill but 
even if it passes it may be rejected by senators, many of whom are 
funded by the energy industry.

Prof Chu is a Nobel prize-winning physicist and a world expert on clean 
energy. But he said it was impossible to ignore political reality.

"With each successive year the news on climate change has not been good 
and there's a growing sensation that the world and the US in particular 
has to get moving," he said.
    
If you could convert (with photovoltaic cells) 20% of the Sun's energy 
into electricity you would need 5% of the world's deserts. This is not 
much land
Steven Chu, US Energy Secretary

"As someone very concerned about climate I want to be as aggressive as 
possible but I also want to get started. And if we say we want something 
much more aggressive on the early timescales that would draw 
considerable opposition and that would delay the process for several years.

The US energy secretary said that awareness of climate tipping points 
had increased greatly only in the past five years. He added: "But if I 
am going to say we need to do much, much better I am afraid the US won't 
get started."

To the anger of environmentalists, he said that one compromise would be 
approving new coal-fired power plants without obliging them to capture 
and store their carbon. The UK government has made this a stipulation 
for new coal plants but Prof Chu declined to explain why the US 
government would not follow suit.

'Tough standards'

The first step in America, he said, should be a massive programme of 
efficiency for commercial buildings. This could save 80% of their energy 
demand, he said. He said the government would provide the research and 
encourage states to adopt tough standards.

He envisaged a future in which the US was largely p

Professor Chu fears the world is heading towards a tipping point on 
climate change

owered by wind and solar but admitted there were technical difficulties.

On solar he explained: "The challenge is to make solar energy 
cost-effective. The amount of energy hitting the Earth - if you looked 
at it, if you could convert (with photovoltaic cells) 20% of the Sun's 
energy into electricity you would need 5% of the world's deserts. This 
is not much land. So the opportunity is enormous.

"The question is whether we can make it cost-effective. You have to 
transport this long distances because people don't live in deserts."

Similarly, on wind, Prof Chu told BBC News: "The good news is that many 
of the areas with good wind are where there aren't many people, so there 
are fewer objections to wind farms. The bad news is that there aren't 
many people. So we are planning to look at how you get an 
interconnecting (transmission) system, to allow us to develop these 
great resources."

An overriding challenge for both technologies was the need to develop 
storage for energy from renewables.

When informed about research from HSBC suggesting that China had 
invested twice as much in greening its economy with its fiscal stimulus 
as the US had done, he said he had not seen the figures but that he 
wished for more money for clean energy.

'Pressing challenge'

He said the challenge was pressing, and agreed that the world could face 
future spikes in energy prices because the recession had halted 
investment in many energy projects. This would be an issue at the 
upcoming G8 finance ministers meeting, he said.

Damon Moglen from Greenpeace USA was alarmed by Prof Chu's comments. 
"Obama has had something of a honeymoon with environmentalists," he said.

"But we are getting very concerned. Professor Chu is a good man and a 
good scientist, but the science on global warming is clear and he should 
be guided by the science not the politics.

"It is out of the question that the US should agree new power stations 
burning coal - the dirtiest fuel. Our targets on emissions are too low 
anyway - and there is no way we will meet even those low targets if we 
allow more coal to be burned.

"Professor Chu's comments on coal are contradictory and illogical. This 
administration should give him the head to develop the sort of energy 
policy he knows we really need."

But Prof Chu said: "I am optimistic for the first time in my life that 
the US will start to move in this direction (of cutting emissions) and 
that's why I am heartened by these efforts. If you had asked me two or 
three years ago what's the possibility we could move in the direction of 
reducing carbon emissions in the US I would have said I don't know."

When asked whether he was frustrated, he said: "No, I am realistic about 
the politics and as in time we can make adjustments."

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | US CO2 goals 'to be compromised' (22 
May 2009)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8061929.stm