Political Solutions
Reduce coal plant pollution
Coal plants are the largest producers of global warming pollution.
Carbon dioxide, the leading contributor to global warming, is just one of the pollutants a plant’s stacks spew. Mercury, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, nitrous oxides–all of these are emitted by coal plants.
There are several ways to reduce coal plant pollution:
- Scrubbers
Various types of equipment are available. Some are called scrubbers, others are baghouses, still another is a technique called activated carbon injection. Whatever the technique, pollutants are captured before they are released into the air. The expense of installing these technologies can easily be borne by electric ratepayers: usually the taxes don’t amount to more than the cost of a cup of coffee per month. - Mercury controls
Several states, most recently Illinois, have adopted strict mercury pollution reduction standards. Illinois’ new regulation, which ELPC played a major role in advancing, calls for a 90 percent reduction in mercury pollution by 2009. In some cases, the cost of meeting these new regulations is such that an electric utility may decide to retire an older, dirtier coal plant in favor of building a newer, cleaner plant, or adding capacity at such a plant elsewhere in the state. The unintended benefit? That plant’s carbon dioxide pollution is also eliminated. - Shut down old plants
Whether through energy efficiency, or added investment in renewable forms of energy, a reduction in electricity demand should result in the retirement of those old, dirty coal plants that belch out the most global warming pollution.
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November 18th, 2007 at 12:01 am
We will need desalination plants.
We should irradiate our foods to decrease the need for refrigeration.
This needs to be discussed