Washington DC gets its Clean Air Act Together

In effort to clean up the clean air inside its own backyard, the US Congress is looking for ways to transforms the Legislative Branch's own 99 year old power plant from a dirty old coal burning plant into a clean fuel burning facility that mimics, in theory at least, the global Green commitment to cut carbon emissions.

Whether carbon assisted climate change exists or not is beside the point here. The point is that many facilities like the Capital Power Plant all over the world are experiencing the problem of coming up with the necessary cash to make clean air conversions. If it were simply a case of removing the coal furnace and attaching a natural gas line and/or installing a few wind turbines, the problem of cost would be nominal. But the fact is, converting a plant like the Capital power plant "entirely to natural gas would require equipment upgrades at the facility that would cost $4 to $6 million, in addition to buying more natural gas. It would cost $139 per ton of carbon dioxide saved, or about $2 million a year just for …heating and air conditioning."

But how will outdated power plants deal with the rising cost of energy conversions during the global world-wide recession? Should facilities like the Capital Power Plant spare no expense when it comes to producing cleaner power that comes from both Green and renewable every sources? If laws are passed that prohibit the burning of coal and other dirty fuels, won't this effectively shutdown the "oldest and dirtiest" facilities?

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