White Gold by Amphlett Rachel

Author:Amphlett, Rachel [Amphlett, Rachel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Thrillers, Technological, General
ISBN: 9780646558141
Google: tRCFBAAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 21599633
Publisher: n/a
Published: 2011-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 25

Singapore

The check-in formalities complete, Dan and Sarah put their bags in the hotel room and decided the balcony was the best place to spend the humid evening, with an occasional raid to the room’s mini bar facilities.

They sat at a small table, Dan with his chair wedged in a corner between the balcony and the room, and gradually worked through Peter’s notes and the prints of the photos Sarah had taken in Delaney’s study.

Dan rubbed his hand over his eyes. ‘Some of this stuff is incredible. You just don’t realise how much influence industry has over politics, do you?’

Sarah nodded. ‘I know. I never know whether to be angry or depressed about it. The thing is, Peter was right – it very rarely gets reported. I mean, look at this,’ she said, holding up a newspaper clipping. ‘Here’s a report on how the major oil and gas players have used lobby groups to plan protest marches against US environmental policy changes – by using scare tactics threatening the loss of jobs in the industry if any emissions trading scheme was implemented.’ She threw the article down in disgust. ‘No wonder the public has lost interest.’

‘Yeah, but if these people are willing to kill to prevent people like Peter drawing it to the public interest, maybe they should be taking notice,’ added Dan.

‘Do you really believe that?’ Sarah put down the document she was holding.

Dan shuffled the notes back into place. ‘Well, if Peter was going around telling everyone about this wonder-fuel that could effectively put the oil, gas and coal industry out of business, then yes.’ He leaned back, propping the chair against the wall. ‘Someone out there is extremely serious about preventing that technology being used and it’s looking more and more like Delaney.’ He shook his head. ‘I thought they were all going on about clean-coal technology being the best compromise.’

‘That’s being pushed through as a quick-fix for climate change,’ said Sarah. ‘Clean coal technology is expensive – not to mention inefficient. Yes, it’ll cut down on carbon emissions but to get the same output as one of the old-style coal power stations, you need to burn up to forty per cent more coal.’

‘That kind of defeats the object for being ‘clean’ then,’ said Dan.

‘Not to mention why the coal producers are rubbing their hands with glee – imagine what the demand for coal will be once this so-called ‘clean’ technology is perfected – especially in places like India and China.’ Sarah put her notebook down. ‘No, the truth is, compared with all the other alternatives, coal is still a cheaper and more reliable fuel to power generation companies.’

‘So, where do you think this white gold powder comes in?’ mused Dan.

Sarah leafed through the research notes. ‘From what I can tell, Peter’s just used that as a reference point – it’s when gold is put through a piece of equipment called a spectroscope at a high temperature. Apparently it can develop a white gold powder that organisations

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