Nov 17 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Bruce Henderson The Charlotte Observer, N.C.

At 66, one of the nation's most prominent climate-change scientists says he's more interested in finding solutions than placing blame for a warming planet.

One key solution, physicist James Hansen said Friday: No more coal-fired power plants like the one Duke Energy plans to expand 50 miles west of Charlotte.

Hansen is director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York and a member of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences. He's also outspoken about the need to stabilize levels in the atmosphere of carbon dioxide, which is released when coal, natural gas and oil are burned. Most climate scientists link those greenhouse gases to a warming planet.

Events of the past five years, such as the rapid melting of sea ice, have made clear that the climate is nearing a tipping point of irreversible damage, he said.

"The danger is such now that in 20 years people will look back and say, 'Why didn't (scientists) warn us?' " Hansen said in an interview before his talk at Queens University of Charlotte.

Hansen appeared with Mike Nicklas, a Raleigh architect known for his work in energy-efficient buildings. Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers was among those in attendance.

Two groups opposed to the expansion of Duke's Cliffside plant, Charlotte's Carolinas Clean Air Coalition and the N.C. Waste Awareness and Reduction Network, sponsored the forum.

Duke estimates Cliffside will release 9.7 million tons of carbon dioxide a year once a new 800-megawatt boiler is added. Hansen argues that energy efficiency could replace the need to expand the plant.

Duke has touted an efficiency plan that it says could eventually save energy equal to the output of two large power plants. But that can't replace the short-term need for more power for its 40,000 to 60,000 new customers a year, the company says.

The problem with coal is that there's so much of it, Hansen said. That means plants like Cliffside could spew carbon dioxide for decades once oil and natural gas are depleted.

"The physics of the problem tells us that we cannot put the carbon from all that coal into the atmosphere," he said. "It just hasn't sunk into policy makers."

Hansen wrote N.C. air-quality officials in opposing the Cliffside expansion: Between 2025 and 2050, "we will need to bulldoze old-style power plants" that don't capture the carbon dioxide they release. Such technology is at least a decade away, he said.

Global temperatures have risen about 1 degree over the past century. Hansen said there is still time to prevent it from warming more than 1 additional degree.

He advocates a carbon tax to lower demand and stimulate the government's investment in research, stronger efficiency standards and campaign-finance reform that he says is needed to lessen the influence of special-interest groups in the climate change debate.

"We can spread the blame around," he said, "but the people who are going to suffer are our children and grandchildren."