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Plasma

1AC

Inherency

Popular plans fail due to financial conditions – financial incentives solve

Blandford 12 – Laurie K, Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers

[April 17, http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2012/apr/17/st-lucie-officials-to-decide-today-whether-to/]

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — Plans to pioneer plasma gasification technology through a trash-

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a lack of money and Fort Pierce's decision to leave the county landfill.

The economy is the only barrier to adoption; ONLY incentives can solve

NETL 12 – National Energy Technology Laboratory

[June 22, http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/coalpower/gasification/gasifipedia/7-advantages/7-6_challenges.html]

The widespread market penetration of gasification faces some challenges, mostly related to capital costs

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respondents expressed concern with low plant availability in the early stages of operation.

Solvency

Plasma gasification uses carbonaceous materials, like coal and waste, to produce fuel and electricity

Dodge 09 – Ed, Cornell University

[July 1, http://www.waste-management-world.com/index/display/article-display/368649/articles/waste-management-world/volume-10/issue-4/features/plasma-gasification-clean-renewable-fuel-through-vaporization-of-waste.html]

Plasma gasification is a multi-stage process which starts with feed inputs – ranging

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to a variety of fuels as well as chemicals, hydrogen and polymers.

Plasma gasification of differing coals empirically successful

Messerle and Ustimenko 07 – Combustion Problems Institute, al-Farabi Kazakh National University

[http://www.springerlink.com/content/n0u2236g59w08236/]

This paper presents a numerical analysis and experimental investigation of the gasification under steam and

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. A comparison between the numerical and experimental results showed a satisfactory agreement.

Plan

The United States Federal Government should substantially increase its financial incentives for plasma gasification of coal.

1 Economy

Coal industry key to economy

Cameron 06 – Rob, BBC News

[August 29, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5295922.stm]

The United States is the world's most powerful economy, but much of that power

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of natural resources is helping - literally - to power the US economy.

Current coal usage is unsustainable; reserves will run out in 40 years

MacKay 09 – David JC, UIT Cambridge, England

[Sustainable Energy – without the hot air, page 159]

Let’s repeat his calculation for the world as a whole. In 2006, the

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by 2050 or 2060, be an end to our happy progressive condition.

US is set to continue using coal; current methods are highly inefficient

EurActiv.com PLC 07 – EU news and policy debates

[June 29, http://www.euractiv.com/energy/analysis-efficiency-coal-fired-power-stations-evolution-prospects/article-154672]

According to Hans-Dieter Schilling

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emissions at a global level.

Plasma gasification uses coal more efficiently, producing beneficial slag and fewer emissions

NETL 12 – National Energy Technology Laboratory

[June 22, http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/coalpower/gasification/gasifipedia/4-gasifiers/4-1-4-1a_westinghouse.html]

WPC has been developing plasma gasification technology to treat industrial and municipal solid wastes (

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total energy input in the feed can be recovered in the produced syngas.

Econ collapse causes nuclear World War III

O'Donnell 9 – Sean, writer and Marine Corps Reserve squad leader

[Feb 26, http://www.examiner.com/x- 3108-Baltimore-Republican- Examiner~y2009m2d26-Will-this- recession-lead-to-World-War- III]cn

Could the current economic crisis affecting this country and the world lead to another world

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possibility of World War III is averted. However sometimes history repeats itself.

Econ decline causes war – multiple reasons; the consensus of up-to-date research agrees

Royal 10 – Jedediah, Director of Cooperative Threat Reduction at the U.S. Department of Defense

[“Economic Integration, Economic Signaling and the Problem of Economic Crises,” in Economics of War and Peace: Economic, Legal and Political Perspectives, ed. Goldsmith and Brauer, p. 213-215]cn

Less intuitive is how periods of economic decline may increase the likelihood of external conflict

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such, the view presented here should be considered ancillary to those views.

2 Environment

Conventional coal plants are the worst polluters – lots of chemical side-effects for humans and environment, including radiation poisoning

Colley 11 – Julie, author

[November 1, http://ecohearth.com/eco-zine/green-issues/401-the-dangers-of-coal-burning-power-plants-.html]

Coal has been an integral part of American power generation since the late 1800s.

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to produce more radioactive material than a nuclear power plant within industry regulations.

Overwhelming scientific consensus indicates warming is accelerating and anthropogenic

Pearce 7 – Fred, environment consultant for New Scientist

[With speed and violence: why scientists fear tipping points in climate change, GoogleBooks, pp. 10-17]cn

First, the basic physics. As we have seen, much of this goes

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now? Some of them can be heard making the case against climate change

The impact is extinction – clean energy is key

Heinberg 7 – Richard, Senior Fellow at Post Carbon Institute, recipient of the Award for Excellence and Energy Education

[Peak Everything, p. 19-22]cn

First, some problems are more critical than others. A patient may suffer simultaneously

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community involvement, intergenerational solidarity, and the other intangible goods listed earlier.

U.S. clean energy development key to global spillover

Roberts 4 – Paul, journalist, author, energy expert and writer for Harpers

[The End of Oil, pg. 325-6]cn

Politically, a new U.S. energy policy would send a powerful message

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business prospects in China that it now has its own vehicles in Beijing.”

3 Slag

US droughts cause global food crises; effects will be seen in two months

Cleetus 12 – Rachel, expert on the design and economic evaluation of climate and energy policies, as well as the costs of climate change, Ph.D. in economics

[September 4, http://www.triplepundit.com/2012/09/global-food-crisis-2012-drought/]

The impact of the 2012 drought on U.S. crops and livestock has

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weather imposes a very unequal burden on the poorest people in the world.

The other byproduct is slag, used to create rock wool, thus lowering costs

Strickland 7 – Jonathan, HowStuffWorks senior writer

[http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/energy/plasma-converter3.htm]

If you were to blow compressed air through a stream of this molten material,

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another substantial source of income apart from selling electricity back to the grid.

Rockwool is the best commercial hydroponics material

Grovida 11 – Florence, Florence Grovida Gardening

[October 11, http://www.grovida.com/how-to-hydroponics/rockwool.html]

Rockwool is made from molten rock that is spun into long, glass-like

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reuse the rockwool slabs many times by steam sterilizing the slabs between crops.

Droughts are inevitable – the only way to maintain agriculture is hydroponics

Truan 12 – Maresa, San Diego State University with degrees in political science and psychology

[31 July, http://www.rosebudmag.com/120-hydro-pop/4201-record-droughts-plague-us-farmers-is-hydroponic-agriculture-the-solution]

By all accounts, 2012 has been a very dry year for the US.

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amount of water, having to irrigate is much less of a problem.

Global starvation destabilizes multiple countries, causing civil wars

Clover 8 – Charles, the Telegraph

[April 22, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/3340417/Food-shortages-how-will-we-feed-the-world.html]

The era of cheap food is over. In Britain, a standard white loaf

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and technology get us out of the hole we appear to be in.

Starvation kills billions – we have a moral obligation to act

Andre 92

(Claire and Velasquez, Manuel Markkula Center for Applied Ethics Andre and Velasquez are professors at SCU http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v5n1/hunger.html Spring)

Between now and tomorrow morning, 40,000 children will starve to death.

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children die from malnutrition and illness. Many of these deaths are preventable.