Targeting fossil fuels' true cost
Saillant advocates for a sustainable energy supply
The tacit energy plan in the U.S., says Roger Saillant, is to protect the source.
Saillant, president of Plug Power Inc., addressed a capacity crowd of more than 200 listeners at the Nov. 8 William J. O’Brien Distinguished Lecture Series at the Hogan Center at the College of the Holy Cross. His message: Energy generation at point of use, rather than energy generation and distribution from a centralized base, is good for not only the environment, but for society as well.
You might expect as much from the founder of a company that designs and develops on-site backup power systems. But when a questioner asked Saillant whether the electricity it takes to generate hydrogen is factored in to the cost of hydrogen-powered systems, he cited the "true" costs of fossil fuel, starting at the cost to get the fuel to a power plant, and the pollution it causes, to the wars waged to secure its source.
He cited some sobering statistics: 29 billion tons of carbon dioxide are emitted into the atmosphere each year; 40 percent from power plants, 42 percent from oil. Transportation is responsible for 66 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions, and half the energy consumed in a vehicle goes to moving the payload; the other half is used just to move the car. While it may take more than a decade to replace the current fossil fuel-burning auto fleet, he said, light-weighting the auto fleet is something that can be done now.
Leaving behind centralized distribution to increase adoption of generation at point of use would go a long way toward reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, Saillant said. A questioner asked what he knew about irreversible carbon-dioxide-induced global warming. "What do you tell the kids?"
"Some say it’s already too late," Saillant replied, while others hope for stabilization. We have to abandon the idea that we can’t do anything, so we don’t do anything, he said. Our kids, meanwhile, have concluded that adults are not serious about the problem.
Noted author Peter Senge, who had introduced Saillant to the audience, said the standard chart used by climate scientists indicates that the carbon load in the atmosphere is already 30 percent higher than in any time in our history, and it’s four to five times higher than a rate at which nature takes carbon out. No less than a 75 percent-80 percent global reduction is needed. Adherence to the Kyoto protocols would only stabilize the rate of emissions.
Senge warned against assuming the free market will solve the world’s problems. If costs go higher, that logic runs, the market will shift. But the logic of markets depends on the quality of the information available to the participants, he said.
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