Global Warming: Can We Find Common Ground?
2004 ANNUAL REPORT
2004 ANNUAL REPORT
That’s right, if two heads are better than one, why not three? General Electric, Cinergy and Bechtel have formed a unique alliance to study building an Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) power plant. The head of GE Energy, John Rice, says IGCC technology, combined with the capture and storage of CO2, has the potential to substantially change the coal emissions game. But GE and Cinergy need other partners to help bring down the cost of power from these plants. Currently, IGCC technology costs about 20 percent more than a conventional coal plant.
Joan Bavaria believes that companies, like people, can become blinded by their own importance. As a founding member of CERES, the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies, she partners with companies who want to be environmental stewards. Her measure of success in finding common ground is simple: people get aligned to solve common problems, not to advance differing positions.
Jae Edmonds, an expert on climate change, says we face two critical challenges: We must stabilize concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. We also need more, not fewer, technologies to combat global warming. The magnitude of the problem requires us to tune up old technologies and accelerate the development of new ones.