U.S. Energy Secretary Says New Technologies Needed to Achieve Global Climate Goals

9/17/2003

From: Jeanne Lopatto, 202-586-4940 Drew Malcomb, 202-586-5806

BERLIN, Germany, Sept. 17 -- U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said Wednesday that meaningful reductions in greenhouse gas emissions will be impossible without revolutionary new energy technologies being developed by U.S.-led research.

Addressing a group of European global climate policy experts, Abraham said no technologies currently exist to significantly cut emissions of gases linked to global warming. Unless such technologies are developed, he said, greenhouse gas reduction targets in global-climate treaties such as the Kyoto Protocol will not be achievable without severe economic hardship.

Abraham noted criticism of the U.S. decision not to participate in the Kyoto Protocol, a treaty that American officials note would hamper the U.S. economy while exempting large nations such as China and India from complying with greenhouse gas-reduction targets.

"The United States is neither ashamed of its position on Kyoto nor indifferent to the challenges of climate change," Secretary Abraham said. "The United States is investing billions of dollars to address these challenges."

Nations seeking to cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases "face one hard and clear choice," Abraham said. "Either dramatic greenhouse gas reductions will come at the expense of economic growth and improved living standards, or breakthrough energy technologies that change the game entirely will allow us to reduce emissions while, at the same time, we maintain economic growth and improve the world's standards of living."

Abraham described technologies designed to reduce or eliminate carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil, or to replace fossil fuels with new energy sources such as hydrogen.

"Over the next five years, the United States has pledged $1.7 billion to fund the ambitious Freedom CAR and Hydrogen Fuel Initiative to develop emission-free automotive operating systems that run on hydrogen," he said, adding that U.S. funding for global climate research projects now totals $4.5 billion a year, surpassing the combined spending of all other nations.

"Hydrogen represents one of the most attractive options to meet both our energy and environmental goals," Secretary Abraham said. "It has a high energy content, it produces no pollution when used to create energy in fuel cells, and it can be produced from a number of different sources, including renewable resources, fossil fuels and nuclear energy."

Abraham said the United States is partnering with other countries to collaborate on research to "accelerate the transition to a global hydrogen economy" that would substantially reduce the world's dependence on petroleum.

The Energy Secretary also discussed "clean coal technologies" designed to remove carbon dioxide from power-plant emissions. He spotlighted the Energy Department's "FutureGen" project, a $1 billion research effort to create a pollution-free coal-fired power plant.

"FutureGen will be one of the boldest steps our nation takes toward a pollution-free energy future. Virtually every aspect of the plant will be based on cutting-edge technology," Abraham said. "FutureGen will lead to the development of clean fossil fuel power plants all across the world. It will allow this abundant and economical fuel source to continue producing energy without its traditional environmental side-effects."

The secretary also described U.S. led carbon-sequestration programs, which are developing technologies to remove carbon dioxide from fossil fuels and store it deep underground to keep it out of the atmosphere.

"We will also need to develop the revolutionary technologies to make these reductions happen. That means creating the kinds of technologies that do not simply refine current energy systems, but actually transform the way we produce and consume energy," he said. "When those technologies are developed, we will all exceed our targets. If they are not developed, then we will all fail."