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October 8, 2006
"Securing a Clean Energy Future for Utah"
by Tim Wagner, Sierra ClubTim Wagner is the Director of the Utah Smart Energy Campaign, an electrical energy-focused program of the Utah Chapter of the Sierra Club. The program is designed to educate Utah consumers about the external costs associated with the state and nation's high rate of coal-derived electricity and advocate for more development of renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal. Tim currently holds a position on the state's Mercury Work Group, a consortium of 15 individuals appointed by the Utah Division of Environmental Quality to assess and address issues associated with mercury contamination in Utah's surface waters. He was also recently appointed to a position on Governor Huntsman's Blue Ribbon Climate Change Advisory Panel, a body assigned to assess current science on global warming and to help develop Utah policies to address the problem.
“Utah obtains 95% of its electricity from coal combustion, almost twice the national average, while getting less than 1/10 of 1% from renewables. There are currently about 1,100 coal-fired power plants across the country, five here in Utah. Industry is proposing approximately 150 additional plants, four in Utah. Most of these proposed facilities will use technology similar to that in use for 30 or more, emitting huge amounts of pollutants such as nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds (ozone), mercury, and others. Coal combustion worldwide is the single largest source of carbon dioxide, the principle greenhouse gas responsible for global warming.
There are huge economic opportunities in Utah associated with the development of renewable energy sources. Renewables have little or no pollution factors, use free sources of fuel, and can save consumers tremendous amounts of money, short and long term. Developing renewables can also serve as a hedge against the rising prices of fossil fuels and keep our energy dollars at home.”
Suggested References and Resources:Coal Power Plant Industry and Renewables Union of Concerned Scientists, www.ucsusa.org
Sierra Club, www.sierraclub.org
Clear the Air, www.cleartheair.org/dirtypower
Renewable Portfolio Standards, www.pewclimate.org/what_s_being_done/in_the_states/rps.cfm
American Wind Energy Association, www.awea.orgstline.Global Warming
Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth. (book and film)
Tim Flannery, The Weather Makers.
Elizabeth Kolbert, Field Notes from a Catastrophe.Here is Tim's very informative PowerPoint presentation. This file is 4 MB so is may take a minute to before you are view it. You will need to have PowerPoint installed on your system to view it. Just click the scroll bar on the right to view the next page of the presentation until you have seen all of it. It has a great deal of interesting information for the state of Utah.