RSSSpeaker: Hayes to discuss clean coal technology
QUICKREAD
WHEN: 11:15 a.m.
WHAT: “Clean Coal Technology”
WHO: Jason Hayes — Communications Director, The American Coal Council
Jason Hayes has served as the communications director for the American Coal Council (ACC) since March 2005. In this position, he is responsible for the association’s public communications, as well as editing “American Coal” magazine, administering the association’s web and social media presence and administering the association’s Tomorrow’s Leadership Council program.
Prior to his work with the ACC, Jason owned and operated Hayes Holdings Consulting, an environmental and technology consulting service that focused on the Canadian resource industry. Jason worked with clients like the Coal Association of Canada and the Fraser Institute, liasing with and speaking to government and stakeholder groups, as well as helping to manage, edit and publish various policy documents, web, educational and promotional resources. Before he worked din the coal industry, Jason was employed as a forester in the Canadian forest industry.
Jason has spoken and been published internationally in a wide variety of venues an publications. In his written and spoken work, he focuses on energy and natural resources, as well as environmental, policy and technology themes. Jason has consulted with, authored articles for and spoken to numerous trade publications and educational organizations.
He holds a master of environmental design degree from the University of Calgary, a B.Sc. in natural resource conservation from the University of British Columbia anda technical diploma in renewable resource management from Selkirk College.
Jason Hayes of the American Coal Council will discuss coal markets “and the decisions that we make in difficult environments.”
As global demand for energy increases, Hayes predicts coal will gain stature as a leading solution to America’s energy needs. Coal provides energy security as an abundant, domestic resource, Hayes said. It provides economic security because it’s affordable and provides American jobs and it’s becoming an increasingly cleaner energy resource.
“Our tagline is that we work to be the preeminent business voice of the American coal industry,” Hayes said. “What we try to do is encourage networking among members of the coal and energy industry and also try to build the business opportunities for our members and broadly advocate for coal as an affordable, abundant, secure and environmentally friendly fuel source.”
Part of Hayes talk will focus on the efforts to make coal cleaner—whether it’s removing impurities, changing the chemical composition or improving scrubbers on the emissions end. Other emerging technologies include carbon sequestration, oxy-fuel combustion and underground coal gasification.
Still, coal is indispensable for America’s energy needs. “We can’t produce our needed energy without it,” Hayes said.
It would take 250 nuclear reactors or 17 more trillion cubic feet of natural gas or the equivalent of 500 Hoover dams to replace coal in the United States.
There’s no energy source that’s completely carbon dioxide nuetral, Hayes added. “Every energy resource has its warts and blemishes.” There are storage issues with nuclear energy and hydro alters natural habitats and natural gas isn’t as clean as it was once thought to be.
“As far as cost and supply, coal is our best option in domestic energy generation. The basic facts show that over 30 years, we’ve more than doubled our use of coal and at the same time atmospheric pollutants have gone down ... our air quality is better today than in 1970.”
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