WE Energy's CEO: Carbon capture technology a decade away

Wisconsin Energy Corp. CEO Gale Klappa told CNBC’s Jim Cramer this afternoon that he believes it will be another 10 to 12 years before technology to capture carbon from old coal-fired power plants will be available on a widespread scale.

Cramer invited Klappa on his "Mad Money" show after a Wall Street Journal column this morning that described the company’s carbon-capture experiment at the state’s largest coal plant in Pleasant Prairie.

That catch-and-release plan, launched in February 2008, is testing the use of chilled ammonia to remove carbon dioxide, the leading greenhouse gas, from the power plant smokestack.

Weighing in on the cap-and-trade proposal that is being sought by the Obama administration, Klappa said the industry would need more time to convert to low-carbon energy sources such as nuclear and coal-fired power plants that incorporate burying carbon dioxide released by the plants underground.

Giving the industry a decade to prepare would help the nation tackle global warming emissions without imposing a significant economic burden, he said.

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