Let's Clear the Air about Clean Air

You cannot regulate morality, but what happens when regulation shows a positive impact and self-regulation seems to fail? Often the result is a sense that regulation is required to drive social change. This may be happening on Capitol Hill, where recent studies show that emissions from power plants of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) have fallen dramatically in recent years, but carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions increased. Currently the U.S. has stringent regulations for SO2 and NOx; and relies on voluntary compliance for CO2.

Trends from 1990 to 2004
SO2 - 44%
NOx - 36%
CO2 + 27%

Last year the U.S. Senate adopted a resolution calling for mandatory emission limits. "Voluntary approaches for curbing greenhouse gas emissions are not working," states the report from GreenBiz.

If the power industry wants to pre-empt regulation (and the associated costs and burdens) it would do well to take a lesson from the cement industry. Under the leadership of the World Business Council on Sustainable Development, the cement industry has made real and aggressive efforts to reduce all emissions, including CO2.