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Europe's Green Image Clashes With Reliance on Coal

By Mark Landler, June 20, 2006 SCHWARZE PUMPE, Germany – In the shadow of two hulking boilers, which spew 10 million tons of carbon dioxide a year into the air, the Swedish owners of this coal-fired power station recently broke ground on what is to be the world’s first carbon-free plant fueled by coal. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, presided over the ceremony. “We accept the problem of climate change,” said Reinhardt Hassa, a senior executive at Vattenfall, which operates the plant. “If we want a future for coal, we have to adopt new technologies. It is not enough just to make incremental improvements.” But the new plant, which will be just a demonstration model, pales next to the eight coal-fired power stations Germany plans to build for commercial use between from now to 2011 – none of them carbon-free. “That is really a disappointing track record,” said Stephan Singer, the director of climate and energy policy at the World Wide Fund for Nature in Brussels. “Just replacing old coal plants with new coal plants won’t enable Germany to meet stricter carbon emission targets.” Europe likes to think of itself as a place that has moved beyond its sooty industrial […]

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DuPont, BP Form Biofuels Partnership

DuPont and BP have formed a partnership to develop, produce and market a next generation of biofuels. The first product is targeted for introduction in the UK in 2007 as a gasoline bio-component. DuPont and BP have been working together since 2003 to develop advanced biofuels with properties that can help overcome the limitations of existing biofuels. That work has now progressed to the point where they are able to bring the first product, biobutanol, to market. DuPont and BP are working with British Sugar, a subsidiary of Associated British Foods plc, to convert the country’s first ethanol fermentation facility to produce biobutanol. Additional global capacity will be introduced as market conditions dictate. A feasibility study in conjunction with British Sugar is already under way to examine the possibility of constructing larger facilities in the UK. “DuPont firmly believes that biology will help us reduce our global reliance on fossil fuels,” said DuPont Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Charles O. Holliday, Jr. “Today we are demonstrating how DuPont’s unique scientific capability provides solutions that are sustainable, renewable and matched to real world needs. Biobutanol is just the beginning of new solutions DuPont can offer to transform global economies by improving […]

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