10:10:10 And Why It's Scary

Oct. 5, 2010-

I recently read an article heralding each day in October to be a celebration, working up to the month's climax on Halloween. For carbon emissions slashers, it looks like the climax of October will hit early this year, with 10:10:10 consecrated as a day to reduce carbon emissions via a UK-based initiative.

10:10:10 is being dubbed "a global day of doing." The group is encouraging people to cut carbon emissions by 10 percent on 10:10:10. "From sumo wrestlers cycling to training in Japan to 10,000 schools planting trees in Croatia and Russia, from a carbon-cutting telethon on national TV in the Netherlands, to hundreds of people in the UK sitting down to low-carbon Sunday lunches, this is going to be a really inspirational day," says the web site. The site also offers a number of suggestions on how to have a carbon-free day.

While all of this is surely in good intentions, 10:10:10, a "young and creative team," according to the web site, released a video on their web site about cutting carbon "which was supposed to be humourous but in the event upset a lot of people." The premise of the video (no joke) is, "Cut Carbon Emissions, Or We Will Kill You. No Pressure." Out of good taste, I won't link to it, but if you really want to see the video, you can search for it on brandchannel.com.

The video has gained so much negative feedback that the 10:10:10 pulled it from their web site and issued an apology.

Global iniatives to go green and cut carbon emissions seem to be growing in popularity. Events like 10:10:10 have their place in raising awareness, but not much long-term effectiveness. Some people may ride their bikes instead of driving for one day and be successful at cutting emissions by 10 percent for that one day.

But anyone in the power industry knows that lasting change in cutting emissions comes through years of research and development and investments in clean air technology. Our October issue of Power Engineering magazine will feature an article on clean air technology methods, particularly flue gas desulfurization (FGD) units. Some of these units are capable of SO2 removal efficiencies up to 98 percent.

Now that's real emissions slashing.