John Hewson promoting ancient coal technology

Former Liberal Party leader and climate campaigner John Hewson has produced another shock to environmental activists, promoting a decades-old and never used coal technology that he says could extend the life of the vast brown coal resources in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley.

Hewson and his business partners say they have perfected a system that “refines” coal and turns it into granules that can then be used in power generation, as a replacement for diesel and gas, in transport, and in space heating. The potential market, they say, is in the “trillions” of dollars.

Furthermore, they say it could mean that thousands of coal mines and coal generators around the world will not need to close, despite the global mandate to cut emissions to meet climate change targets.

The technology was promoted by Hewson in a recent presentation in the Latrobe Valley at a $45-a-head dinner in Traralgon, ostensibly called to look at the transition possibilities for a region dependent on brown coal generation.

According to the Voices of the Valley public group, Hewson had been expected to talk about the future beyond coal, but instead gave a sales pitch for a new technology that could exploit the Latrobe Valley’s vast coal resources.

Read the RenewEconomy story by Giles Parkinson - “John Hewson pushes “trillion dollar” opportunity in “refined” coal.”