From the Field: Greeting President Obama in Ohio & Discussing CCS with Sec. Chu in West Virginia

Here’s a summary of a great day from two of the Clean Coal Technology. It Works. field teams. First, a presidential update from Dan Lipner, captain of Team 4.

After spending some time talking with folks in Cleveland about clean coal technology, we went to Cuyahoga Community College for President Obama’s speech on the economy. While we weren’t able to see the President’s address, we were able to stand at the entrance to the college to greet him and his entourage. Here’s Scott Barker, project coordinator, talking about our appearance at Cuyahoga Community College:



Scott is right: clean coal technology means jobs. Investments in advanced clean coal technologies would create over 2,200 jobs in the state of Ohio alone and over 150,000 jobs across more than 30 states. That’s why both Republicans and Democrats agree that clean coal technology can bring job growth, economic prosperity and renewed innovation to America.

Dan and his team weren’t the only ones who visited with high level officials. Check out this update from Christopher Stio, captain of Team 3.

Our first stop of the day was at the Charleston, West Virginia Vandalia Rotary Club’s weekly breakfast meeting. We met the city manager of Charleston, David Molgaard, who volunteered to pose for a picture with one of our shirts.



We then headed to the University of Charleston to attend a forum on The Future of Coal & CCS with Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Energy Secretary Steven Chu. Chu remarked that “we are looking to CCS to be game changing technology and industry and government must work together for innovation.” Rockefeller argued that coal is “a treasure for our state. Coal can be our state’s future because you can count on coal when you need it.”

Make sure to like America’s Power on Facebook and visit my team and the rest of field teams at www.cleancoaltechnologyworks.org to see the latest updates where we’ve been and who we’ve met.

Introducing Dan Connell, CCS Engineer for Consol Energy Posted by ACCCE at 09/08/2010 01:24:32 PM

By Bianca Prade

 

As our Clean Coal Technology. It Works. field teams drive across the country, talking to folks about the history and future of clean coal technologies, we want to introduce you to someone who makes his living by developing clean coal technologies.

 

Dan Connell is an engineer and project manager for Consol Energy’s research facilities in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. While the coal-based electricity industry has had a long history of successful clean coal technologies, Dan is working on the latest advancements in CCT, specifically carbon capture and storage.

 

Here’s Dan’s story and why he’s excited to be working on CCS technologies with the goal of having coal-fueled power plants with near-zero emissions:

 

 

And you might see Dan on your television soon, explaining that there are already coal-fueled power plants today that are capturing CO2 emissions:

 

 

CCT On Campus: Partnering With China On CCT Development Posted by ACCCE at 09/07/2010 12:46:48 PM

By Steve Gates

 

Last week, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced the creation of the U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center that will receive combined funding of $100 million from both countries. Part of the consortia will be led by West Virginia University that will research and develop advanced clean coal technologies, including carbon capture and storage. West Virginia University will not only partner with other universities and research laboratories around the nation; they will also work with the private sector, including members of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity: American Electric Power and General Electric.

 

Secretary Chu explains why this partnership between these two countries is so importance:

 

As the world's top energy consumers, energy producers and greenhouse gas emitters, the U.S. and China will play central roles in the world's transition to a clean energy economy in the years ahead.

 

David Sandalow, the Department of Energy’s Assistant Secretary for Policy and International Affairs, writes on The White House’s blog that this Clean Energy Research Center and its focus on clean coal technologies will bring American and China closer together on an issue of worldwide importance:

 

Two generations ago, citizens of the United States and China were not able to visit the other country. Today we have a vibrant and dynamic U.S.-China relationship in which people from all parts of government and society interact on a daily basis. While the United States and China have differences on important issues, we have a common interest in a clean energy future. Working together, we can accomplish more than acting alone.

 

Carbon capture and storage technologies aren’t just being developed in universities and laboratories. We have coal-based power plants that are already successfully capturing CO2 at various field testing sites. In a new video from our “Real People, Real Stories” series, Dan Connell, engineer/project manager at Consol Energy, explains why CCS technologies can give America affordable energy and a clean environment at the same time:

 

 

Click here to learn more about Dan.  

 

From The Field: CCT = More Jobs, More Economic Security Posted by ACCCE at 09/03/2010 01:53:35 PM

From Scott Howard, captain of Team 1 from the Clean Coal Technology.  It Works.  Campaign:

 

 

Yesterday, we were in Dayton, Ohio discussing clean coal technology (CCT) and the positive impact that it can have on the livelihoods of everyday Ohioans. After telling us that he was currently unemployed, one gentleman said:

 

“I think it’s a good idea because if we have all this coal sitting around then we can utilize it … we ought to do it because that will put more people to work.”

 

He’s exactly right, and the facts back him up. A recent study shows that investments in advanced clean coal technologies would create over 2,200 jobs in the state of Ohio alone, and over 150,000 jobs across more than 30 states.

 

But that’s not the only benefit of clean technology that folks brought up. While in Dayton, one individual brought up an interesting idea that increasing clean coal technology and coal utilization will impact everyone at the same place – the dinner table, having a positive impact on everyday citizens in the grocery store lines. And 400 miles later in Southeastern Illinois, the group had the opportunity to discuss CCT with a motorcycle club travelling back to Missouri, with one of the riders stressing the need for coal to be part of a national plan to strengthen its energy independence.

 

Visit me and the rest of my team at www.CleanCoalTechnologyWorks.org to see where we’ve been and the latest updates from all our Clean Coal Technology. It Works. teams.

 

“Clean Coal Technology. It Works.” Coming to Your Town Soon. Posted by ACCCE at 09/01/2010 04:30:39 PM

We would like to welcome you to the “Clean Coal Technology. It Works.” campaign. Over the next two months, we will be traveling around the country to showcase both the history and the future of different technologies that have made the coal-based electricity industry part of America’s clean energy portfolio.

On the ground, starting today, our teams will be stopping by state fairs, festivals, baseball and football games, college campuses, diners and town squares near you. They’ll be showing you how clean coal technologies have worked in the past and how developments in new technologies are making coal-based electricity even cleaner. Later this month two mobile classrooms will be touring the country bringing hands-on demonstrations of these technologies.

Finally, check out www.cleancoaltechnologyworks.org to see when our teams are going to be near your neighborhood. We’ll have live updates from our teams via Facebook, Twitter and foursquare. And we’ll be uploading videos and photos to show you all of the fun places we’ve been and people we’ve met.

Make sure to follow us on Twitter and become a fan of America’s Power on Facebook. And if you see us in your neighborhood, use the #CCT2010 hashtag from your Twitter account if you have any questions or comments.

The Coal Wire: CCS Technologies From Development To Deployment Posted by ACCCE at 08/24/2010 02:37:27 PM

By Steve Gates

 

Last week, carbon capture and storage became one of the many new entries to the Oxford English Dictionary. But some may wonder how long it’s going to take until we have mastered CCS technology.

 

The fact is that we’re continually making great progress on bringing these new technologies to the marketplace. Just last week, the Department of Energy blogged about its continued partnership with the private sector in developing viable CCS technologies to deploy:

 

The Department of Energy’s ARPA-E program realizes that developing economically competitive CCS technologies is critical to enabling the use of our vast domestic coal resources without emitting CO2 into the atmosphere. To this end, ARPA-E has funded 16 projects through the Innovative Materials and Process for Advanced Carbon Capture Technologies (IMPACCT) program, which focuses on technologies that capture CO2 from existing coal-fired power plants. This program has been designed to accelerate the most promising ideas in basic research toward large-scale demonstrations. 

 

In this edition of The Coal Wire, we showcase some of the investments being made by the public and private sectors into the research, development and deployment of carbon capture and storage:

 

The Associated Press – Basin Electric Project Still Seeking CO2 Customers (8/19): “Basin Electric Power Cooperative is searching for customers to buy the carbon dioxide it plans to retain in an experiment to reduce emissions of the gas from its Antelope Valley power plant, a company official said … One crucial element is whether Basin can find customers for the carbon dioxide that would be captured from one of Antelope Valley's two 450-megawatt generating units, he said. A potential buyer is the oil industry, which uses carbon dioxide to increase production in some geologic formations … Great Plains processes lignite coal to make synthetic natural gas and retains much of the carbon dioxide in the process. It ships the gas by pipeline to southern Saskatchewan, where oil producers pump it underground to increase oil production. The plant retains about 3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually … Carbon dioxide that cannot be sold could be pumped underground into saltwater aquifers in western North Dakota for permanent storage. One large aquifer is beneath the Freedom lignite coal mine, eight miles northwest of Beulah, which supplies coal to the synfuels plant and Antelope Valley station.”

 

Steamboat Today of Steamboat Springs, Colo. – Carbon Sequestration Project Wraps First Phase Near Craig (8/20): “After three months of scouring the area surrounding Craig, a team of nine geologists have finished preliminary data gathering to determine if the area would be suitable for carbon sequestration. Carbon sequestration is the process by which carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and other sources are captured and injected into the ground … The three-year research project is being done to see if sandstone reservoir rock formations thousands of feet underground would be able to hold captured carbon dioxide.”

 

R&D Magazine – New Approaches To Meet The Carbon-Capture Challenge (8/17): “Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology are using funding from the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy - also known as ARPA-E - to pursue two different, but related, approaches for removing carbon dioxide from the flue gases of coal-burning power plants. Power plants produce approximately one-third of all carbon dioxide emitted in the United States each year.  The researchers will attempt to use the unique high-density properties of hollow fibers to develop cost-effective techniques for removing large volumes of the greenhouse gas from the emissions. In one project, awarded directly to Georgia Tech, researchers are developing hollow-fiber composite membranes that will use nanoporous metal-organic framework materials to separate carbon dioxide from the flue gases.  In the other project, Georgia Tech researchers are assisting colleagues at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in developing hollow-fiber sorbents that will soak up carbon dioxide like a sponge - then release it when heated.”

 

The Associated Press – Grant Helps Fund Wyo. Univ. CO2 Storage Research (8/18): “University of Wyoming researchers have received a $1.5 million federal grant to study how much carbon dioxide can be permanently stored underground. UW's project was one of 15 nationwide to receive money from the U.S. Energy Department for studying various facets of carbon capture and migration in different types of geologic formations … The hope is that the research will help the U.S. reduce emissions of greenhouse gas as well as develop and deploy near-zero-emission coal technologies.”

 

Small Businesses Rely On Affordable Coal-Based Electricity Posted by ACCCE at 08/23/2010 03:24:24 PM

By Lisa Camooso Miller

 

Vice President Joe Biden is talking about the economy as he visits a Chrysler supplier park in Toledo, Ohio today. Strengthening Ohio’s economy, as well as the nation’s, depends on having a reliable supply of affordable, domestic energy that allows businesses to grow and create jobs.

 

The Buckeye State gets nearly all its power from coal, taking up 85.8 percent of the electric power capacity in the state as of June 2009. But coal-based electricity isn’t only providing energy for large businesses like Chrysler.

 

In this video, Olivia Albright, a small business owner in Toledo, talks about how coal provides the low-cost electricity she needs to keep her company competitive:

 

 

CCS Among New Entries Into The Oxford English Dictionary Posted by ACCCE at 08/20/2010 12:03:40 PM

By Lisa Camooso Miller

 

It was only two weeks ago when President Obama called clean coal technology integral in “jump-starting a new American clean-energy industry.” And it was only one week ago when the White House Task Force on Clean Coal Technology released its report recognizing the essential roles that the coal-based electricity industry, as well as carbon capture and storage technology, have to play in our nation’s clean energy future.

 

Now, because of the worldwide discussion on clean energy, Oxford English Dictionary has added carbon capture and storage to its list of new word entries, as reported by USA Today’s Greenhouse blog:

 

Do you know what carbon capture and storage is? By definition it means the process of trapping and storing carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels.

 

It is one of two terms related to climate change featured in the new edition of the Oxford Dictionary of English published Thursday, the Guardian reports.

 

Within this discussion on clean coal technologies, many of you have asked when one sequesters carbon, where do we put it. The fact is that the CO2 that was in the ground (in the form of coal) is released when the coal is combusted. With advanced technology, we can capture that CO2 before it goes into the atmosphere and put it back into the ground.

 

This is not a new concept, as the oil and gas industry has been injecting CO2 into existing oil and gas wells for decades in order to increase production. In fact, some of the captured CO2 from coal-based power plants can be used to help increase domestic oil and gas production (thus also helping reduce our reliance on foreign oil). There will also be other beneficial uses for captured CO2, and while there will need to be a clear and specific set of regulatory policies to ensure that we’re safely storing CO2 and monitoring it, there is no reason to believe that this cannot be done.

CCT On Campus: Developing The Next Generation Of Clean Energy Technologies Posted by ACCCE at 08/17/2010 03:56:26 PM

By Steve Gates

 

With the recent release of a report from the White House Task Force on Clean Coal Technology showing coal’s important role in America’s clean energy future, the Department of Energy announced $21.3 million worth of carbon capture and storage research funding over the next three years. These grants not only show the cooperation between government and the private sector when it comes to producing cleaner energy, they also showcase strong partnerships between government and universities to keep developing and deploying these next generation technologies.

 

In this CCT on Campus update, we want to showcase what some of these universities will be developing when it comes to CCS technology:

 

The Department of Energy – Geological Carbon Sequestration, Spelunking and You (8/11): “Today, Secretary Chu announced the selection of 15 projects aimed at developing and testing technologies to store CO2 in oil and gas reservoirs, deep saline formations, and basalts (just to name a few). Funded with $21.3 million over three years, these CCS projects will help us gain a deeper understanding of the many factors impacting the advancement of safe and commercial scale CO2 storage. The Carbon Sequestration Atlas, created by DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory, estimates there are more than 3,500 billion metric tons and 1,100+ years of CO2 storage potential in the U.S. and Canada. The 15 university teams and companies selected today will tackle the critical challenges to tapping this vast storage potential, including capacity, leakage risk, injection rates, plume migration and containment.”

 

The Associated Press – Colorado School of Mines Gets Federal Grant To Research Carbon Sequestration (8/11): “The Colorado School of Mines in Golden will receive a $510,000 federal grant to help develop technologies to store carbon dioxide in geologic formations as part of efforts to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions … The School of Mines says its project's aim is to improve the understanding of the geology's effect on the mechanism of trapping carbon dioxide. The research is expected to lead to more realistic predictions of storage capacity and the risk of leaking.”

 

The Billings Gazette – Montana, Wyoming Get Funds For Carbon Research (8/11): “Montana State University received $1.6 million for researching ways to seal injection wells using a liquid-like mixture of carbon dioxide … Researchers believe they can use a CO2 solution to coat the small openings. A microbial interaction should then create a bond with the rock producing a tight seal. MSU is collaborating on the project with the University of Alabama-Birmingham … The University of Wyoming received $1.5 million to determine ways of storing carbon dioxide in the Rock Springs Uplift, a geological formation capable of holding 750 million tons of CO2, according to the Wyoming State Geological Survey. WSGS estimates that uplift storage would allow two large coal-fired power plants to meet clean-coal standards.”

 

The Associated Press – Yale Receives $1.5M US Carbon Capture Project (8/11): “The U.S. Department of Energy says it has picked Yale University for a $1.5 million project to develop technologies to store carbon dioxide … Yale will study questions about the chemical and mechanical processes for carbonation to be practical on a large scale.”

 

The Houston Chronicle – Texas Research Institutes To Receive $2.2 Million Grant From The Department of Energy (8/12): “The University of Texas at Austin and Fusion Petroleum Technologies, Inc. in The Woodlands will receive $2.2 million in funding to research new ways to store CO2 — a greenhouse gas that scientists say leads to climate change — in underground wells. Texas research institutes received three of the 15 grants awarded across the country, the most of any state. Roughly $1.4 million will go towards two projects at UT Austin, and $780,000 will go to Fusion Petroleum Technologies.”

 

The Associated Press – DOE Giving SC School $450K To Study Carbon Dioxide (8/12): “Assistant Energy Secretary James Markowsky said Wednesday that Clemson University will receive $450,000 from the agency over three years. Clemson says its research will focus on developing ways to safely store carbon dioxide in formations like depleted oil reservoirs and unmineable coal seams.”

 

Four Decades Of Producing Cleaner Energy Posted by ACCCE at 08/16/2010 01:25:21 PM

By Bianca Prade

 

Last Thursday, the White House released a report from its Task Force on Clean Coal Technology showing that carbon capture and storage is an essential way to meet the our goals of reducing CO2 emissions while acknowledging the important role coal will play in diversifying our nation’s energy portfolio and economic growth. As President Obama visits Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin today to speak to employees of a energy storage and battery technology company, it’s important to note that CCT not only makes the coal-based electricity industry a part of our clean energy future. In fact, the industry has a four-decade history of producing cleaner energy.

 

Many of you have asked the simple question of just how clean the industry’s clean coal technology is. Thanks to over $90 billion invested in advanced technologies, the environmental footprint of coal-based generation has been significantly reduced. Since 1970, emissions of sulfur dioxide have been reduced overall by 37%, nitrogen oxides by 12.9%, and particulate matter by 88.5% even as the use of coal to generate electricity to meet growing energy demand nearly tripled. Continued development of clean energy technology will only enhance our ability to harness emissions. The next frontier of research and development stands to lower even further the footprint of coal-generated electricity.

 

What is that next frontier? It’s carbon capture and storage, technology that both government and the private sector have made significant investments in already. As ACCCE President and CEO Steve Miller said last Thursday:

 

CCS represents the next wave of clean coal technology, allowing us to safely capture and store carbon dioxide.  Investments in this technology are critical, and we look forward to a continued partnership between the private sector and the federal government to ensure its development.