Global Climate Strategies is dedicated to finding solutions to four of the largest challenges facing our country and our planet: increasing energy demand, heightened energy security needs, energy-related environmental degradation, and resource depletion.

In the U.S., the two largest consumers of energy – the power generation sector (40%) and the transportation sector (29%) are heavily dependent on depleting and increasingly cost-prohibitive fossil energy resources that have un-priced negative ecological consequences.  (Source: EIA)

The power generation sector’s reliance on coal (roughly 48% of electricity is produced from coal-fired generation –EIA) is ecologically and socially detrimental in many ways.

Coal, the Brita sponge of planet earth, is compressed fossil biomass which has, through millions of years of groundwater filtration, collected high amounts of sulfur, mercury, and broad array of other toxic heavy metals. When combusted in a coal-fired power plant, these pollutants react with oxygen and are released into the atmosphere. 

Every year, the average coal-fired power plant releases the following air pollution:

• 10,000 tons of sulfur dioxide (SO2), which causes acid rain that damages forests, lakes, and buildings, and forms small airborne particles that can penetrate deep into lungs.
• 10,200 tons of nitrogen oxide (NOx). NOx leads to formation of ozone (smog) which inflames the lungs, burning through lung tissue making people more susceptible to respiratory illness.
• 500 tons of small airborne particles, which can cause chronic bronchitis, aggravated asthma, and premature death, as well as haze obstructing visibility.
• 720 tons of carbon monoxide (CO), which causes headaches and place additional stress on people with heart disease.
• 220 tons of hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds (VOC), which form ozone.
• 170 pounds of mercury, where just 1/70th of a teaspoon deposited on a 25-acre lake can make the fish unsafe to eat.
• 225 pounds of arsenic, which will cause cancer in one out of 100 people who drink water containing 50 parts per billion.
• 114 pounds of lead, 4 pounds of cadmium, other toxic heavy metals, and trace amounts of uranium
• And last but not least, 3,700,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas that is the primary human-caused driver of climate change--as much carbon dioxide as cutting down 161 million trees (Source: Union of Concerned Scientists).

Additionally, the mountain-top removal method of mining coal damages and destroys watersheds. 

On top of similar air pollution issues, the transportation sector’s almost sole reliance on crude oil products that are sourced abroad makes the sector especially susceptible to post-9/11 supply and delivery disruptions – leaving our economy exposed to high energy volatility.  A detailed background of this complex issue was chronicled by Pulitzer Prize-winning author and energy thought leader Daniel Yergin, of Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA),  in his book “The Prize”  (Please view the PBS documentary version of the book for an award-winning history of the Oil & Gas industry.)

For additional information about these important energy issues, please view the following resources published by a selection of the leading energy thought leaders:

1. Dr. Nathan Lewis of Caltech  (Video Lecture)  (Slides)
2. Dr. Richard Smalley,  Nobel Laureate ,   Rice University  (Video Lecture)
3. Jeffrey Sachs,  Economist,  Columbia University   His book: “Common Wealth”
4. Amory Lovins, Rocky Mountain Institute,  “Winning the Oil End Game”