Coal Power revisited

It's easy to dismiss coal fired power production, and to wave a verbal wand to remove it entirely from the planet - but it's not going to happen soon. And "soon" is what we need, so all solutions, including interim and transitional ones, must be on the table.

While we are refining and exploring new ways to power the world, there also needs to be fast and effective solutions for the existing coal fired power industry. Australia has coal - we use it, export it, and profit from it. So it is heartening to see that we also are exploring ways to reduce emissions, and leading this field is the work done by the CO2CRC team in Melbourne who recently reported a breakthrough in CO2 capture.

In late November, I also attended a talk on Capturing Carbon Emissions by USYD Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dr Deanna D'Alessandro, who is pioneering a method to "sponge" carbon emissions, and this, and other initiatives need to be fast tracked.

Another Australian company, MBD Energy are also working on Carbon Capture, using algae for production of algae oil and algae meal.

We may reach a point one day, when the techniques being developed by researchers in the non-trendy areas are essential to removing the excess greenhouse gases STILL being emitted. I am not a fan of putting all eggs in one basket, so we need to encourage our talented people into a variety of areas - wind, solar, geothermal, marine, cogeneration, energy storage, and also into bioengineering and solutions for managing what we continue to do, and have done with coal.

At the same time, I would advocate for a level playing field, where subsidies on sunset industries are replaced by research grants to help them transition, and provide the continuity of supply that is essential for our societies.

Bamboo soaks up CO2

It seems I'm just one of the many fans of Bamboo. A recent article called "What's Driving the Bamboo Market" by Jonathon Bardelline published in Green Design claims that "Bamboo plants sequester four times as much carbon dioxide as hardwood trees (taking in 62 tons of CO2 per 2.4 acres versus 16 tons per 2.4 acres of trees) and puts out 35 percent more oxygen".

Bamboo is becoming more popular, and my bamboo flooring is certainly not unique, though well admired for it's soft feel and durable finish. I have bamboo in my wardrobe in the form of some quite smart business jackets and some exceptionally soft t-shirts. According to what I have read, bamboo doesn't require pesticides to grow, and it's a low water use plant, actually mostly considered a weed because it grows so fast and is so hardy.

So if you are in business, and are looking at new materials, take a look at bamboo, and some of it's many varieties. It's a material that I expect we will see lots more of in the future.

Pic ex Flickr Bamboo by The Pug Father