Wind vetoes `Clean Coal'

The irony of the launching of the world's first scientific demonstration of carbon sequestration by Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson being spoilt by strong winds seems to have been overlooked by the media.

The quest to clean coal by carbon geo-sequestration is an unproven technology, that at this point is more public relations exercise than actual solution.

Even if it should work will not be available for years, ie too late. It is therefore naturally attracting a lot of investment from the government as Climate Change policy in this country is written by the largest polluters, aka the Greenhouse Mafia. Business as usual, reality be damned.

Generating power from the wind however is an established technology and as recent events show there is a lot of wind about, apparently more and more in fact as the effects of Climate Change kick in. Earth to Martin, come in. Hello? Where is that wood? Who left all these trees lying about?

As Andrew Bartlett points out sequestration should not be dismissed out of hand but a rational analysis says we can't pin any significant hopes on it, let alone sit around and assume it will work and save us all. The opportunity cost of the focus on sequestration is huge in terms of investment in renewable energy technologies, you know, the technologies that actually work.

The above report doesn't indicate whether it was a bright sunny day, but it does remind me of the cartoon that I saw on a postcard once of two guys standing in a flat landscape under a blaring sun looking down and saying there must be a source of energy down there somewhere.

Or perhaps of that `parable' about the Christian who drowns believing God will save him after ignoring the radio announcement, row boat and the helicopter God sends (which I heard on the West Wing - Take this Sabbath Day).

Martin Ferguson roasting under a burning sun, barely able to stand in the cyclonic wind conditions is finally washed away in a turbulent flood all the while desperately trying to scrub coal clean is his leisurely search for a clean source of energy. Don't worry, no need to rush, coal company public relations experts are on the job. Yeah, we're saved.

Still stockpiling canned goods not the craziest idea so long as you remember to get a manual can-opener.