Coal-to-liquids: The Coalition's Latest Energy Brain-Fart
The Coalition's latest energy policy proposal, coal-to-liquids, is a costly, emissions-intensive, and impractical idea that would take years to implement. It's a distraction from the urgent need for a clean energy transition, and it's being promoted by Liberal leader Angus Taylor and Nationals leader Matt Canavan, who have a history of promoting dumb energy transition ideas.
The technology has been around for a while, but it's rarely used. It was adopted by Adolf Hitler during WWII due to a lack of other options, and it's been an economic and environmental nightmare in South Africa. The US and China have also toyed with the idea, but decided it was too expensive and dirty to deploy at scale.
In Australia, there have been several ill-fated attempts to use coal-to-liquids technology, including a plan to use Victoria's brown coal reserves to produce hydrogen. Linc Energy tried to push the technology in Queensland, but abandoned the idea in 2016, leaving the environmental cleanup and bill to the state government and taxpayers.
The Coalition's proposal is a distraction from the urgent need for a clean energy transition. It's a climate science denialism that would take years to implement and would be an economic, environmental, and policy nightmare. It would be more cost-effective and environmentally friendly to electrify everything, as promoted by Rewiring Australia.
The technology is expensive, high-emitting, and requires significant amounts of water. It's nearly three times more carbon-intensive than conventional fossil fuels, and the emissions could be reduced with CCS, but that would inflate the costs even further. The Coalition's proposal is a costly and impractical idea that would take years to implement and would be a distraction from the urgent need for a clean energy transition.
In conclusion, the Coalition's coal-to-liquids proposal is a costly, emissions-intensive, and impractical idea that would take years to implement. It's a distraction from the urgent need for a clean energy transition, and it's being promoted by Liberal leader Angus Taylor and Nationals leader Matt Canavan, who have a history of promoting dumb energy transition ideas. The technology is expensive, high-emitting, and requires significant amounts of water, and it's nearly three times more carbon-intensive than conventional fossil fuels. The emissions could be reduced with CCS, but that would inflate the costs even further. The Coalition's proposal is a costly and impractical idea that would take years to implement and would be a distraction from the urgent need for a clean energy transition.
