Europe is replacing old coal-fired power plants with new ones as the way to meet the shorter term greenhouse gas reduction goals. If the U.S. adopted the same policy it could meet the President-Elect Obama’s goal of reducing CO2 to 1990 levels by 2020. This is the conclusion of the latest analysis in Power Plant Air Quality Decisions published by the McIlvaine Company (USA).
Bob McIlvaine, president of McIlvaine Company, says that by retiring the old plants and substituting new plants as a temporary solution utilities will obtain the backing of the environmental community. With continuing improvement in electricity generation technology, the useful life of a new plant will be 25 years or less. This means the 2050 goal of 80 percent greenhouse gas reduction does not necessarily have to include any of these new plants.