Australia: Scientist casts doubt over ‘clean’ coal

A leading scientist fears the federal government’s clean energy target will be dominated by unproven clean coal technology.

Australian Academy of Science president Kurt Lambeck said the technology is 20 years away, and even then, would have limitations in curbing carbon emissions.
Prime Minister John Howard on Sunday unveiled a clean energy target of about 15 per cent of power generation by 2020.

Professor Lambeck, a geophysicist at Australian National University who has studied sea level change, disagreed with including both renewable energy and purported low-emission technologies in the target.

“I think it’s a great mistake to bundle those two things together because most of the targets, I suspect, will be addressed through the clean coal, rather than resulting in the development of renewables that are truly clean,” he told the National Press Club in Canberra.

The Age