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The SVP, here in the picture National Councilor Christian Imark (39), opposes the CO₂ law.
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«The CO₂ law is mental hygiene and does not provide a solution. The state only redirects, controls and regulates, ”says Imark.
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As an alternative to the new CO₂ law, he is therefore presenting his own plan together with the industrial gas company Messer Schweiz AG.
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Christian Zeyer, Managing Director of Swisscleantech, sees it differently: “The costs for such an implementation would be many times higher than the decarbonization concepts currently being worked out by the experts.”
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“Physically and technologically it is very unlikely that this would be a cheaper way,” Zeyer continues.
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Almost all parties agree. A new CO₂ law is needed to save the climate. The only exception is the SVP. «The CO₂ law is mental hygiene and does not provide a solution. The state only redirects, controls and regulates », criticizes National Councilor Christian Imark (39).
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He thinks: Switzerland is already on the right track. Now, instead of regulation, it should use the potential of technical development. As an alternative to the new CO₂ law, Imark is therefore presenting its own plan together with the industrial gas company Messer Schweiz AG.
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Hydrogen as the energy carrier of the future
The 10-point plan is intended to make the CO₂ law superfluous. He mainly relies on hydrogen technologies. Excess electricity from solar, water and wind energy will in future be used to produce hydrogen because it can be stored more easily.
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The hydrogen could then be stored in the natural gas network, for example. The industry should also produce hydrogen itself and use it as an alternative to natural gas. In addition, cars, trucks, trains and ships will be powered by either synthetic natural gas or hydrogen.
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Swisscleantech boss is skeptical
Christian Zeyer (58), managing director of the Swisscleantech trade association, is skeptical: “There is currently hardly any excess electricity. That means that a lot of new plants that generate renewable energy would have to be built first, ”says the ETH engineer.
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In addition, the production of hydrogen is currently still too expensive. “The investment costs for the entire production chain of renewable hydrogen are so high that a kilowatt hour is five times more expensive than fossil fuel today,” he says.
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But Imark doesn’t just rely on hydrogen. He also wants to make better use of CO₂: the gas is in great demand in industry and there is a constant shortage on the market. It has to be extracted from the earth or produced by burning fossil fuels. Imark therefore proposes CO₂ recovery systems. These extract the CO₂ from industrial operations directly from the flue gas. That doesn’t stop the emission, it just delays it, argues Zeyer.
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A new mortgage
Imark also wants to start working in the building sector – which is still responsible for a quarter of all CO₂ emissions. For example with new building materials such as concrete, which stores more CO₂ than it needs for production. So you could store CO₂ in the long term. For Zeyer, the process is very promising – at the moment, however, it is still in an experimental state.
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Imark also suggests installing photovoltaics on facades, windows or roofs. However, the CO₂ law does not rule this out at all. However, financing such systems is a challenge for homeowners. The SVP’s 10-point plan also suggests a solution here: a new type of mortgage.
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“The CO₂ law does not solve a problem if it levies taxes on heating,” says Imark. “That is why people do not expand their heating systems outside of the investment cycle.” His suggestion: building mortgages should no longer be attached to people, but to objects. “In this way, investment companies can take over the restructuring. The homeowner then only has to transfer the interest in the amount of the energy savings, ”says Imark.
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“Costs would be much higher”
Here, too, he can be found with Zeyer. “The SVP is right with this analysis, but in the new CO₂ law there is the possibility of providing long-term low-interest loans for homeowners,” he countered.
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Overall, Zeyer hardly leaves a good hair with the ten-point plan. For him, the SVP alternative to the CO₂ law is one thing above all: too expensive. “The costs for implementation would be many times higher than the decarbonization concepts developed by experts today.” The proposed storage technologies are currently only used if there is no other way, as they are too inefficient.
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