Also the guy who can fit coal-fired generators with an economically viable device to collect the gases and make use of them. This would be an extremely important development. Even a couple of oil majors have done some research on this, but what works in the lab often isn't practical when dealing with the real thing.

Tom Kasten of Recycled Energy Development website here, is actively installing systems to recapture heat and gases, byproducts of industrial processes, which ordinarily escape and are wasted. This waste product can be recycled and used, and the potential is the savings of 19% of current fossil fuel usage. Such a system is not science fiction, but is currently employed in such facilities as the ArcelorMittal Steel plant in East Chicago. This mill cut purchases of coal-fired power in half, reduced carbon emissions by 1.3 million tons per year, and saved 100 million dollars to its bottom line.

The main stumbling block in this case is NOT the technology. With the exception of Dupont and Dow, most US companies are not targeting energy-saving, but favor simplification of manufacturing processes. The boom/bust cycle of American industrial production also tends to discourage long-term energy investment. When things are good, investment comes in the form of added capacity; when things are bad, investment is generally withheld.

Another challenge is, perversely, in the form of the Clean Air Act. Any interference with a plant's exhaust system is likely to trigger a federal review, and a freshly-opened can of worms for plants. But the greatest issue is involved with utilities regulation: Companies who would go to the expense of adding industrial recycling systems could produce more energy than they could use, but existing regulations make the excess energy produced difficult or impossible to sell.

Among power utilities, there is no competition and hence no incentive to increase efficiencies. Excess costs are merely passed to consumers. What is truly needed is a wide-ranging approach to energy savings that involves solid leadership by the government and an end to business as usual.
Casten points out that the 16 heat-recycling contraptions that perch atop the East Chicago steel plant produce as much clean energy as all the grid-connected solar panels in the world. There's nothing stopping us, but us.

For more on this, see "Waste Not" in the May 08 issue of Atlantic.