GUEST COMMENTARY

If coal’s the future, our future’s short

BY PAUL BROWN

Have you noticed the flurry of optimism from the coal industry? WVU faculty are singing that coal is here to stay. The industry is actually running scared. The latest assessments by climate experts give us 10 to 20 years before global warming is beyond our control. States and other countries are banning coal-fired power plants and turning to renewable electricity.

There’s a point where denial is irresponsible and immoral. We’ve passed that point, and it can only be explained by a deeply corrupt industry and government. I took a proposal to end global warming to staffers of energy and environmental committee chairs on Capitol Hill last month. With the exception of a [Rep. Alan] Mollohan staffer, these dedicated people were unanimous in their interest and in their despair over right-wing corruption. My proposal argues we have 20 years to stop runaway warming. In five years we must stop burning carbon, increase surface reflection of sunlight,and sequester CO2 as wood by harvesting trees at the ends of their rapid growth phases. Instead of burning carbon for energy, we must use non-carbon renewable (green) energy to generate electricity, and use some of that electricity to make green fuel.

The only feasible green fuel is anhydrous ammonia (NH3). It’s stored in pressurized tanks as a liquid, like propane. It’s not explosive and it doesn’t leak through vessel walls like hydrogen, and it has a much higher energy density per gallon, about half that of gasoline.

Last week, I attended a conference in which researchers reported making ammonia using electricity from wind, hydroelectric, and ocean thermal power. They’ve fabricated base metal catalysts that can be used to promote smooth combustion, e.g., in power plants. There were also reports on fuel cells and internal combustion engines which can run on ammonia, and a kit to convert gasoline vehicles to ammonia hybrids. I had a chance to see how ammonia is handled and how safe it is.

Ammonia has been synthesized using electricity, water and the nitrogen in air. Oxygen is released into the air in the process. When ammonia is burned, it uses the released oxygen and produces useable energy, water and nitrogen. There are no greenhouse gases or waste products that interact with the ecosystem the way there are with all carbon-based fuels. Nothing needs to be sequestered.

The demise of the carbon economy is assured by the fact that we can now have a steady supply of electricity from a fluctuating supply of wind, sun, waves and tides. We only need an excess generating capacity over the average demand for electricity. During periods of oversupply, we will make and store ammonia. During undersupply, we’ll burn the stored ammonia in converted fossil fuel-fired power plants. We no longer need fossil fuels for times when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing.

Our former university president and vice president for research, our provost, the dean of the College of Engineering, and individual engineering faculty don’t want to hear about global warming or a noncarbon energy economy. In the 33 years I’ve been a faculty member, WVU has never led in any area of technology.

Our state has missed out on the revolutions in semiconductors, computers, molecular biology and bioengineering, which have made other states rich. We’ve stuck with coal, and we’re the second-poorest state in the country. We could have had a world-class scientist as president, one who knows a lot about global warming. Instead we hired a lobbyist.

PAUL BROWN is a professor of physiology at WVU and author of ‘‘Notes from a Dying Planet.’’ He lives in Morgantown. This commentary should be considered another point of view and not necessarily the opinion or editorial policy of The Dominion Post.