Coal not so rational after all

THE EDITOR, Sir:

Regarding John Allgrove's Letter of the Day (April 9, 2014), I would like to present some facts with regard to CO2 emissions:

1. Jamaica already emits 10 times more CO2 than we absorb with our forests so we cannot "easily achieve carbon offset", as Mr Allgrove suggests.

2. As an example, the entire Cockpit Country forest absorbs almost exactly the CO2 which will be emitted by the Energy World International 360MW energy plant.

3. Since coal emits 50 per cent more CO2 than LNG for the same power output, even more forests would be required.

4. CO2 contributes to climate change, which particularly affects tropical islands (more and stronger hurricanes, more and longer droughts, etc) and a carbon market is surely coming if the worst-case climate change scenarios are to be avoided. When the market price of carbon emissions is factored in, coal may not be the rational choice for the future.

MIKE SCHWARTZ

windsor@cwjamaica.com

Windsor Research Centre