Following a conversation with Washington Congressman Jay Inslee, Grist blogger David Roberts set out to distinguish between coal gasification and coal-to-liquid (CTL) production. Inslee believes CTL supporters are engaging in a plot to confuse legislators by positioning CTL under a "clean coal" blanket along with gasification. Roberts admitted he confused the two terms in previous writings, and I'll confess I never realized the dramatic differences. So take a look at the Gristmill and follow some of the links to familiarize yourself with the two methods and the carbon impact of CTL. Bottom line, according to Roberts, is a choice between subsidizing the outrageously expensive carbon sequestration during the production process (and still end up with a diesel fuel that is no cleaner than what we get from crude), or we allow all that production-based CO2 to escape (and contribute to the increasing accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere) to keep the fuel cost down. Not much of a choice, so perhaps conservation is a better direction.

[Source: David Roberts / Grist]

In a lengthy, two-part editorial, David Roberts, a staff writer at Grist, presents his position on unifying the green lobby around the flag of URGE²: Use Renewably Generated Electricity, Efficiently. He is expecting bumper stickers and t-shirts - here's why.

Mine negawatts: The cheapest source of new energy is not using it - increase efficiency and you can slash the growth in energy demand. See part two of the interview with Michael Brylawski of RMI for his related comments on how people don't want extra kilowatts, they want hot showers and cold beers.

A good example of where to find negawatts is right above you - replacing standard incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs as is being proposed here in Australia. Similarly, make a car lighter and you can make it more efficient, or faster, or both.

Electrify: It's easier to find clean, renewable sources of electricity than it is to find clean, renewable liquid fuels which leads to an obvious conclusion - shift almost all energy use to electricity. That's not to say that there isn't a lot of room for renewable fuels like ethanol and biodiesel in the mean time, but long term, the electricity grid is just more efficient.

Kill coal: "Coal is the enemy of the human race." Coal fired power stations are responsible for a huge percentage of the world's total greenhouse gas emissions. Coal also causes environmental damage where it is mined and air pollution where is burning. Cleaning up coal is likely to make it financially non-viable in comparison to green technologies such as wind.

Upgrade the grid: Focus on energy storage and decentralisation through renewable sources like wind, solar, geothermal, hydrokinetic, cogeneration and biomethane. Developing good power storage technology is important to even out the supply intermittency of renewable energy sources. Examples of storage Roberts mentions include battery technology (both lithium and nano), hydrogen fuel cells, pumped storage, molten-salt storage and ultracapacitors.

Analysis: As Michael Brylawski said, "if the ultimate efficiency is, say, 10 percent of turning coal into refrigeration for your beer, every unit of energy saved at the fridge saves ten times that in coal." I especially like the concept of mining negawatts - you can start today by using compact fluorescent light bulbs.

Related:

• GridWise sets aside four days in April to work on U.S. smart grid
• Wind and solar powered streetlights... I hope there're no solar red-light-photo cameras!
• Interview with Michael Brylawski of RMI part two - Hypercars and cold beers

[Source: David Roberts / TomPaine.com]

Terry Tamminen got beat up pretty bad following an expanded interview with David Roberts of Grist. AutoblogGreen readers also responded to Tamminen's views on hydrogen. Anyway, Roberts offered Tamminen a forum to respond to the comments. Tamminen didn't respond point by point but rather referred those with questions to his book. But he did bring up a point worth mentioning again, and that is that the environmental community continues to fight world problems divided. "We will need all technologies to displace oil in our lifetimes," responds Tamminen. "That's the goal, no whether one costs relatively more or less."

[Source: David Roberts / Grist]

David Roberts of the Grist blogs interviewed Terry Tamminen, former secretary of the California EPA and author of "Lives per Gallon: the True Cost of Our Oil Addiction." An abridged version ran on the Grist Web site some time ago, but now Roberts has expanded the Q&A transcript and covers specific subjects. The interview became quite spirited when the topic turned to hydrogen, batteries and electric vehicles. Tamminen is a strong proponent of hydrogen, as is his former boss, governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Roberts continually pushed the straight electric option without a hydrogen economy, but Tamminen held his ground with some solid arguments. He also took the low road with the time-to-recharge fallacy. EV proponents have consistently argued that electric vehicles would be purchased for commutes, not long-haul vacations.

As the discussion grew more intense, Tamminen charged, "I really hate this discussion, to be honest -- It's vilifying one at the expense of the other, and my whole message is we've got to get all these technologies improved."

The list of reader comments following the interview are quite interesting, as well.

Related:

• Alt Car Expo: Ed Begley and Terry Tamminen on Ending our Addiction to Oil Now (includes ABG- exclusive audio)
  

[Source: David Roberts / Grist]