Green technology stifled by funding woes: experts
American innovation needed to reduce the greenhouse gases that cause climate change could be squelched if the government drags its heels in providing incentives and fudning for developers, company executives told lawmakers on Tuesday.
American innovation needed to reduce the greenhouse gases that cause climate change could be squelched if the government drags its heels in providing incentives and funding for developers, company executives told lawmakers on Tuesday.
Officials of companies involved in solar and carbon capture technologies told the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming that their biggest challenge to creating new green technologies was financing, not the science.
"Using proven technology available today, we can produce electricity along with other basic commodities at market prices while sequestering 90 percent of our CO2 (carbon dioxide)," said Frank Smith, chief executive of PurGen One.
His plant chemically converts coal into a synthetic gas and then removes the pollutants and 90 percent of the carbon from the gas, leaving nearly pure hydrogen.
The hydrogen is used to produce energy while demand is high, but can alternately be used to produce urea fertilizer, which is sold and adds to profits when electricity demand is minimal.
"The new technology here is in the business model," Smith said. "Everything else is off-the-shelf, proven technology.
"But the huge capital costs, coupled with the lack of an established track record, make finding debt financing for new facilities nearly impossible, Smith said.
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