Making CO2 capture a practical reality Posted by Joe Lucas on 05/06/2009 03:27:51 PM

[We'll be in Pittsburgh all week for the Carbon Capture & Sequestration Conference. Look for more updates as the week goes by.]

Listen as James Stranko explains the CO2 Capture Project, which is a consortium of some of the world's largest energy companies and governments working together on carbon capture and storage projects.

More details emerge about 1st commercial-scale plant to capture and sequester its own CO2 emissions Posted by Joe Lucas on 05/05/2009 05:40:41 PM

[We'll be in Pittsburgh all week for the Carbon Capture & Sequestration Conference. Look for more updates as the week goes by.]

Michael Morris, the CEO of American Electric Power, wasn’t the first speaker today, but he did have arguably the biggest news to share: his company has received carbon dioxide (CO2) storage permits from the state of West Virginia. This will allow AEP to move forward with the nation’s first commercial-scale power plant to both capture and sequester its own carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

It will go live in September.

We’ve known about this 20-megawatt project in New Haven, W.Va., for awhile now, but now we know when it will be ready to be in action. Morris said he hopes President Obama and Energy Secretary Steven Chu will be on hand when the Mountaineer plant goes live. “It will be a breakthrough day in American history,” Morris said, adding that he thinks there will be widespread deployment of this technology by 2015 (this is sooner than most experts currently believe).

Regarding climate change legislation on Capitol Hill, Morris said he wants Congress to regulate CO2 so that there is certainty about goals and objectives. He warned lawmakers to avoid tactics that would make it too expensive for utilities to provide affordable electricity to consumers. “I don’t think you can go forward with legislation that says ‘turn the lights out in America,’” he said.

NRDC says America must boost carbon capture projects to meet CO2 goals Posted by Joe Lucas on 05/05/2009 05:30:28 PM

[We'll be in Pittsburgh all week for the Carbon Capture & Sequestration Conference. Look for more updates as the week goes by.]

This morning began with remarks from David Hawkins, the director of climate programs for the National Resource Defense Council. Those who are paying attention only to the shallow political discourse of anti-coal TV ads might be surprised to see NRDC address a carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) conference. But in fact there is a better relationship between some environmental groups and clean coal technology researchers than many people think.

After all, NRDC knows that America simply cannot meet stringent regulations on carbon management unless CCS is deployed on a large scale.

Hawkins stressed his strong desire to see Congress regulate carbon dioxide (remember, this is something ACCCE agrees with, provided the new law includes the proper consumer protections). He said he wants to see legislation that includes not only performance standards but the money to make it happen.

The conversation on Capitol Hill on the details of such a bill, including the allocation of emission allowances, is going on right now. We look forward to working with people such as Hawkins to figuring out the details of a bill that both protects the environment and provides consumer protection so that our energy costs remain affordable.

A first-of-its-kind research program Posted by Joe Lucas on 05/05/2009 05:24:04 PM

We're in Pittsburgh for the Carbon Capture and Sequestration Conference, talking to the people on the cutting edge of clean energy technology. Watch as Pamela Tomski, founder and director of RECS (Research Experience in Carbon Sequestration), tells us about her program, which provides graduate students and early career professionals an intensive summer research training experience in all aspects of carbon capture and storage:

When It Comes to Energy Investments, Here's Our Two Cents Posted by Joe Lucas on 04/29/2009 03:07:35 PM

We know we have our critics, but the least our critics can do is get their facts right.

Daniel Weiss of the Center for American Progress wrote a rambling post on his blog about the amount of money ACCCE members spend on research and development but failed to keep his facts straight.

Weiss said that ACCCE members “spent less than two cents in research on ‘clean coal’ for every $1 of profit” – where did he get these figures? Did he have a comparable number from other energy sectors? (Because it has always been my experience that the private sector funding, at least for federal R&D programs, has always enjoyed higher private sector participation than say, other energy sector projects.)

Also, how did Weiss account for the high number of projects going on in the private sector without any public funding that is not easily known to the public because they are developing proprietary technologies? (I was just on a panel last night with one such entrepreneur.)

The figure Weiss quoted is useless without the context of other industries or any consideration for these other factors. It shows that he’s just repeating the “party line” if he was to run down coal, without providing any credible alternatives.

Also, Weiss didn't address the fact that many ACCCE members are highly diversified companies with revenue and investments coming from many sectors of the economy (not just coal), meaning they may invest varying amounts of their research and development budget on clean coal technology (CCT).

Calling GE (an ACCCE member) a “coal company” is like calling JP Morgan Chase “a place where you get change for a dollar,” and I’ve pointed this out to Weiss several times, but he still ignores this huge flaw in his work.

And remember, CCT (as coined by Congress) refers to an entire suite of technologies that work to produce electricity from coal while achieving significant reduction in air emissions. For years, this has meant reductions in sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and other gases. And the next generation of CCT will include technologies that capture and store CO2.

By the way, I tried to post this comment on the Center for American Progress Web site, but unlike our blog, Weiss’ article won’t accept comments.

Next time around, I hope Weiss is a little clearer.

How will carbon capture affect your utility bill? Posted by Joe Lucas on 04/20/2009 08:00:00 AM

I know, I talk a lot about the need to keep the compliance costs of reducing greenhouse gas emissions affordable, and there is really some promising news on that front.

At George Washington University’s Accelerating Greenhouse Gas Reductions symposium, Professor Ed Rubin from Carnegie Mellon University gave attendees an update on carbon capture and sequestration technologies, including cost estimates and the overall importance of the technology in our low-carbon toolkit.

From the outset, Professor Rubin stated that “coal will not go away for many decades” and that alternative sources would not easily be able to achieve the large CO2 reductions needed to stabilize CO2 concentrations.

“[CCS] would allow continued coal use as a bridge to a more sustainable future,” said Professor Rubin, noting that CCS was also a potential link to carbon-free transportation, as the cheapest way to make hydrogen was from coal (hydrogen, of course, is seen as a possible alternative to traditional gasoline).

Moreover, Professor Rubin said that economic models show that including CCS in a portfolio of low-carbon energy options significantly reduces the costs of mitigating climate change. If we were talking about needing to hit smaller reduction numbers, he said, we’d be talking about a different type of solution.

But just how much will carbon capture technology cost? And how will it affect your utility bills?

Professor Rubin said that if we apply today’s carbon capture technology to a gasification plant, the initial capital and generating costs would increase 30 to 50 percent. However, these are not increases consumers would immediately see in their monthly utility bill, as utility bills reflect costs from a mix of electricity generation.

In the long-term, CCS has great implications for the cost of electricity, said the professor, who cited DOE figures that CCS could potentially reduce the total cost of electricity by 19-28 percent.

While the benefits of commercial-scale CCS are many for the economy, climate and our national security, Professor Rubin along with the other panelists noted that we need to start walking the walk—and that government action is needed to help us remove legal and regulatory impediments that slow our technological success.

Who will win the race to commercial CCS? Posted by Joe Lucas on 04/18/2009 11:05:00 AM

In the last few decades, we’ve seen countries race to develop new technologies, from state-of-the-art weapons to putting a person on the moon.

Now, it seems we’re in a race to see who will develop the first commercial-scale (~500 MW) coal-based power plant equipped with carbon capture and sequestration technology. The U.S. is close, with its myriad carbon capture demonstration projects; and the UK and Australia are also staking their claim in the CCS race. But who did Carnegie Mellon Professor, Ed Rubin say is a wise bet?

China.

It seems hard to believe that the developing nation who has in the past shunned a commitment to reducing emissions may be the first country to build a commercial-scale plant with carbon capture technology.

Speaking at George Washington University’s Accelerating Greenhouse Gas Reductions symposium, Professor Rubin said that the US has been “talking the talk” in regard to deploying commercial CCS, “but not walking the walk. As far as I can tell, no one has put $1 million in a lock box for commercial carbon capture.”

So how can the US reemerge as a global leader in technology and innovation?

Professor Rubin cited policy as an obstacle in CCS deployment, saying that it will not occur without a strong policy driver. The upside? The recent stimulus package and draft climate change bill have included money and incentives for carbon capture.

Professor Rubin concluded his session by saying that the West is “an important source of leadership” for carbon capture. We know we can guide the way.

Pew Center: Government action needed on CCS Posted by Joe Lucas on 04/17/2009 11:01:21 AM

It seems that everywhere you go, more and more people are talking about carbon capture and storage (CCS) as being a key and essential element in meeting greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals.

At George Washington University’s greenhouse reductions symposium this week, Steve Caldwell, regional policy coordinator for the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, outlined a few provisions their group would like to see included in upcoming climate change policy.

Caldwell acknowledged that carbon capture and sequestration technology, while not a silver bullet, is critical to reducing costs associated with greenhouse gas abatement. To get there, Caldwell outlined a number of policy recommendations, including government action on CCS to:

• Resolve key legal and regulatory barriers

• Fund commercial CCS demonstrations

• Deploy by 2015 5 GW of coal-powered plants with CCS and at least one pulverized coal retrofit

• Create a dedicated and protected trust for CCS programs

As we’ve said before, the government plays an essential role in helping us get carbon capture technologies to market—and that includes helping to secure funding and policies that help insulate the public from some of the financial risks that come with technological advancements.

Twittering live from greenhouse gas symposium Posted by Joe Lucas on 04/15/2009 11:24:13 AM

We're currently at the Accelerating Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions symposium, hosted by George Washington University.

The morning session has been focused on carbon capture and storage, with lectures from Steve Caldwell, regional policy coordinator for the Pew Center on Global Climate Change; and Edward S. Rubin, alumni professor of environmental engineering and science at Carnegie Mellon University.

Follow along on our Twitter feed for real-time updates, and stay tuned to Behind the Plug for key takeaways from the symposium.

Salazar: There is clean coal technology Posted by Joe Lucas on 04/13/2009 06:12:23 PM

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told CNN’s John King there is clean coal technology (CCT), but that we need to do more to develop carbon capture and sequestration (CCS).

We are glad that Secretary Salazar realizes that there is more to CCT than the capture and storage of carbon, and share his sentiment that we need to continue to invest in the development of CCS technologies.

He goes on to say that coal is to the United States what oil is to Saudi Arabia, and that President Obama – through the stimulus package – has invested a significant amount of money into finding ways to use coal more cleanly.

It’s great to see America’s leaders voicing their support for CCT, and we look forward to working Secretary Salazar and the rest of the Obama administration in solving the energy puzzle facing America.