Burying emissions costly, inquiry told - Environment - Specials - smh.com.au

Burying emissions costly, inquiry told -

EVERY coal-fired power station needs to be fitted with new technology to bury greenhouse gas emissions if dangerous levels of climate change are to be avoided, a parliamentary inquiry has been told.
Officials from the main group researching geosequestration - the capture and storage of emissions - told the inquiry yesterday that the new technology would be effective only if it was fitted to every power station by 2015.
But the Co-operative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies warned that power companies would be likely to pass on the cost of the technology to consumers by raising electricity prices by 15 to 20 per cent. "Geosequestration will benefit the environment but there will be an increase in the cost of electricity," its submission says.
But it adds that this cost could be largely offset if the Federal Government was willing to pass the cost on to all power producers, mandate the use of a particular amount of power from plants using the technology or refuse to license power stations that did not use the technology.
When the Federal Government says it wants to see low emissions technology solutions to climate change, it is largely referring to geosequestration and other ways to clean up the production of coal.
It has pursued the nascent technology because it will allow Australia to maintain high levels of coal exports and use coal to produce cheap domestic power.
Critics say the technology's effectiveness has not been proved and that it would be easier to reduce emissions by concentrating on energy efficiency and switching to environmentally friendly sources of power such as wind and solar.
Stephanie Peatling