FutureGen in trouble: I rest my case
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008Now isn’t this timely. Reuters is reporting that the U.S. Department of Energy is getting cold feet with its much-touted FutureGen clean coal project, largely because the $900 million project pricetag has ballooned to $1.8 billion, and climbing. Seems the U.S. government, which had promised to fund 75 per cent of the public-private initiative, is having second thoughts because Energy Secretary Sam Bodman isn’t happy about the cost overruns so far.
Here’s a message for you Sammy: Get used to it.
Clean coal. Carbon capture and sequestration. Nuclear. It might lead us to energy independence, but it will come at a price. Half measures won’t get us there, and neither will promises and big talk. Aren’t conservation and renewables looking good at this point?
Tyler is senior technology reporter and columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. His bi-weekly column, Clean Break, is the basis of a blog of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the cleantech market.