Greg, list et al: 1. I agree with your concerns and guidance. Thanks.
2. Yesterday a White House document was released that implies our US Federal Agencies will be looking hard at CCS (among other things). Maybe a concerted effort by some on this list could broaden the assignments handed out to a range of agencies to include CDR (as is being done throughout the EU). I see many places that biochar could qualify. See: http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ceq/Press_Releases/October_8_2014 http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/enhancing_climate_resilience_of_americas_natural_resources.pdf 3. This new effort is being led by CEQ. http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ceq/blog Ron On Oct 6, 2014, at 12:27 PM, Greg Rau <gh...@sbcglobal.net> wrote: > Thanks, David. While new, advanced technology power plants can be built with > integrated CCS to lower CO2 mitigation cost, the real need is to retrofit the > existing fleet to avoid the 300+ GT of CO2 emissions they are already > committed to. It is too costly to do this with CCS, so rather than insisting > CCS will somehow be able to save the day, those in charge of the R&D > pursestrings need to ask a very important question: are there any > technologies out there that might help us do this job? Otherwise, we are > committing the future of the planet to a single and, in my opinion, unlikely > solution - CCS - without making sure that is our only option. Now is the time > to diversify the R&D so that we will fully know our options and their costs > (and can accurately inform policy and resource allocation), not after many > more $Bs are spent to (again) proven that CCS is too expensive in most cases. > Is diverting 5-10% of the CCS RD&D budget to alternative concepts really > asking too much given what is at stake? > > It is time to admit that CCS will at best be a niche technology, and we need > all hands (and brains) on deck to find additional solutions, including and, > under the dire circumstances, perhaps especially the possibility of > post-emissions CO2 management - CDR. This will not happen unless there is a > fundamental change in outlook, policy and priorities (and sense of urgency) > at DOE, IEA, etc. Let's discuss how to make this happen, not how to continue > to place all our bets on one technology. > > Greg > > From: David Lewis <jrandomwin...@gmail.com> > To: geoengineering@googlegroups.com > Cc: dhawk...@nrdc.org; andrew.lock...@gmail.com; gh...@sbcglobal.net > Sent: Monday, October 6, 2014 9:23 AM > Subject: Re: [geo] 'Clean Coal' With Carbon Capture Debuts in North America > (Not in U.S.) - NBC News.com > > I wonder what "we" know. > > American Electric Power CEO Mike Morris said his company could prove that CCS > fitted to a full scale coal fired plant will be "clearly cheaper than new > nuclear, clearly cheaper than sun and wind". He was speaking to Public Radio > International's Living on Earth radio show on July 22 2011. Audio and > transcript here. > > He mentioned shale gas combined cycle units as the only ones that could > produce power more cheaply. But those plants would emit more CO2. His > interviewer mentioned that AEPs "operators have demonstrated" their > Mountaineer pilot plant "can remove 90 percent of the plant's CO2 emissions". > Morris was confident and ready to build at full scale. Except for one > thing. His regulator would not allow him to recover one dime of the cost of > removing CO2 from the exhaust because there is no requirement to produce low > CO2 power mandated by government. "We were strong proponents of Waxman-Markey > in the House, but we just couldn't get it over the finish line". > > "Society - American society - needs to decide that's the way they want to > go". > > He summed up the cost factor this way: "there is the impact of running this > machine, which we were always targeting at 10 to 15 percent, what's called a > parasitic impact, meaning you lose about 10 or 15 percent of the kilowatt > hours you could put on the system by running the machines that capture and > store the carbon. If that power plant makes energy at five cents, it might > make it at seven cents with this technology". His plan was for his company > to also profit selling the technology to other companies: "the whole concept > of being able to duplicate this technology and install it elsewhere is part > of what we're doing. Once its demonstrated, others will come flying to the > technology and that's my point. It is not inexpensive. But it is doable". > > What Morris says American Electric Power has done is right in line with what > the IPCC Special Report on Carbon Capture and Storage explained was possible > back in 2005. > > > > Re: [geo] 'Clean Coal' With Carbon Capture Debuts in North America (Not in > U.S.) - NBC News.com > Greg Rau Oct 5 at 9:57 AM > To > dhawk...@nrdc.org <andrew.lock...@gmail.com> > CC > geoengineering > What happens if full scale demonstrations of CCS simply confirm what we know > so far - that CCS is too expensive in most applications (except for > extracting more oil/CO2 out of the ground)? Yes, we need to evaluate "a full > suite" of other point source mitigation options. That is not happening > because CCS is viewed as the only game in town in terms of R&D funding and in > terms of policy formation. We are placing the planet at great risk and > strangling technology development if those controlling R&D investment and > policy continue to think that CCS is our only and best hope for mitigating > the >300 GT of CO2* we are now committed to. And while we are at it how about > investing in CDR R&D, just in case none of the above save the day? Imagine > what $2B could do if diverted from one CCS demonstration (of the obvious) > project to explore potentially cheaper, better, faster technologies. > > *http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/9/9/094008/pdf/1748-9326_9_9_094008.pdf > > > Greg > > > > From: "Hawkins, Dave" <dhawk...@nrdc.org> > To: "<andrew.lock...@gmail.com>" <andrew.lock...@gmail.com> > Cc: geoengineering <geoengineering@googlegroups.com> > Sent: Saturday, October 4, 2014 11:58 AM > Subject: Re: [geo] 'Clean Coal' With Carbon Capture Debuts in North America > (Not in U.S.) - NBC News.com > > I went to the launch. CCS is currently expensive but the cost assessment > needs to be done in the context of a full suite of methods to achieve deep > reductions. When real market drivers for such reductions are adopted we > should see cost-reducing innovations stimulated for CCS and a range of > competing technologies. It's way to soon to write-off any of the candidates > as "too costly." > > Typed on tiny keyboard. Caveat lector. > > > On Oct 4, 2014, at 1:42 PM, Andrew Lockley > <andrew.lock...@gmail.com<mailto:andrew.lock...@gmail.com>> wrote: > > > Poster's note: potentially of interest to air capture types. Cynics may claim > that this is simply an expensive piece of subsidized greenwash for the fossil > fuels industry - and one that's being used partially to extract even more > fossil fuels via EOR. > > http://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/clean-coal-carbon-capture-debuts-north-america-not-u-s-n218221 > > 'Clean Coal' With Carbon Capture Debuts in North America (Not in U.S.) > > BY JOHN ROACH > > A first-of-its-kind coal-fired power plant retrofitted with technology to > capture and store most of the carbon dioxide produced at one of its boilers > officially began operations this week in Saskatchewan, Canada. Meanwhile, a > similar project in Illinois to demonstrate a cleaner way to burn the world's > most abundant fossil fuel remains in legal and financial limbo.Whether the > U.S. government-backed project in Meredosia, Ill., will advance so-called > carbon capture and storage, or CCS, technology is an open question, but > experts deem the technology itself vital if the world hopes to stand any > practical chance at staving off catastrophic climate change.advertisement > > And CCS is being propelled forward by pollution-control measures such as the > Obama admnistration's proposed rules to limit carbon emissions from new and > existing power plants. > > "The reason that you want to look at CCS is the math," John Thompson, the > director of the Fossil Transition Project at the Clean Air Task Force, a > nonprofit that advocates for low-carbon energy technologies, explained to NBC > News. > > About two-thirds of the roughly 30 gigatons of carbon dioxide released by > human activity each year comes from the power sector and industrial > activities such as oil refining and fertilizer production. These activities > are all "amenable to carbon capture and storage," Thompson said. "In fact, > you can capture 90 percent of the CO2 from any one of those particular > sources." > > 'Great bumper sticker' > > While increased use of nuclear, solar and wind power could replace some coal, > gas and oil-fired power plants, they are not an option for most industrial > sources of carbon dioxide, he added. "Eliminating fossil fuels is a great > bumper sticker," he said. "It is an ineffective climate solution." > > To boot, global greenhouse gas "emissions are higher than they have ever been > and we are building more coal plants every year," > > Steven Davis, an earth systems scientist at the University of California, > Irvine, told NBC News.In fact, current emission and construction trends > suggest that the international goal to limit warming to 3.6 degrees > Fahrenheit is "completely implausible," he said during a presentation of his > research at a recentclimate conference in Seattle. Getting anywhere close to > the goal, he added in a follow-up interview, will almost certainly require > massive deployment of solar and nuclear power along with CCS."But there is a > big cost associated with CCS," he noted. "It is like 40 or 50 percent more > expensive to get energy from a fossil plant if it has CCS." > > How CCS works > > Carbon capture and storage is a basket of technologies used to prevent carbon > dioxide from escaping to the atmosphere in the course of power generation and > other industrial activities. The captured gas is typically injected deep > underground where, in theory, it will stay forever. In some cases, this > injected gas is used to force out remnant oil from underground deposits, a > process known as enhanced oil recovery." > > It is a natural next step especially for the fossil fuel industry which sees > value in CCS because it means we can continue to keep burning their > products," Davis said. > > The Boundary Dam Power Station, owned by SaskPower, is near Estevan, > Saskatchewan. The world's first commercial-scale carbon capture and storage > project officially opened there this week. > > The carbon capture approach used at SaskPower's newly retrofitted Boundary > Dam Power Plant in Saskatchewan removes the carbon dioxide with a chemical > solution after the coal is burned to generate electricity. The captured gas > will be used for enhanced oil recovery; some will be stored 2.1 miles deep in > the Earth in a layer of brine-filled sandstone. > > A second method called coal gasification employs heat and pressure to convert > coal into gas before it is burned, easing the removal of carbon dioxide. A > Southern Company power plant under construction in Kemper County, Miss., due > to come online in 2015 uses this approach. The captured carbon dioxide will > be shipped via pipeline to nearby oil fields.The project in Meredosia, Ill., > is backed by a $1 billion federal stimulus grant and aims to demonstrate a > technology known as oxy-combustion, where the coal is burned in oxygen and > carbon dioxide instead of air to produce a concentrated stream of carbon > dioxide for transportation and storage in saline rock deep underground. > > FutureGen delays > > That Illinois project, known as FutureGen 2.0, will retrofit and restart a > boiler at a retired coal-fired power plant. It is the second iteration of a > demonstration project originally conceived under the George W. Bush > administration in 2003. The original project was scrapped due to cost > overruns.The scaled-back version also faces financial hurdles, including > efforts to secure $650 million in private sector financing that have been > hindered by a legal challenge from the Sierra Club, which opposes coal plant > construction, according to MIT Technology Review.advertisement > > NBCNEWS.COM<http://NBCNEWS.COM> "The lawsuit is really about the integrity > of the permitting process," Eva Schueller, an attorney for the Sierra Club, > told NBC News. The current permit, she explained, will allow the project > backers to operate the refurbished plant as a traditional coal plant without > limits on the amount of carbon it can release into the atmosphere. > > The environmental group and the project backers are working together "to > resolve issues related to the air permit," Lawrence Pacheco, a spokesman for > the FutureGen Alliance, told NBC News in an email. Meanwhile, he added, the > U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently issued the project an > underground storage permit for carbon dioxide and limited construction has > begun at the plant. > > 'The world changes' > > Thompson with the Clean Air Task Force holds a dim view on the FutureGen 2.0 > project, which he noted even if built would demonstrate a "third-tier" > approach to carbon capture that is unlikely to gain mass market traction. > > Nevertheless, he is optimistic about the future of carbon capture and storage > technology. "I see a series of projects breaking ground or going into > operation that for the first time actually capture CO2 from these power > sources and once that happens I think the world changes," he said. > > The caveats, noted Davis, concern the high price tag for energy generated > with the technology as well as the new infrastructure required to do it. For > example, his rough calculations suggest that to capture and store just 10 > percent of global carbon dioxide emissions would require the same amount of > pipelines and pumping infrastructure that already exist for the oil industry." > > It is not technologically impossible," he said, "but some people might hear > that and say there is no way we are going to do it." > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "geoengineering" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email > togeoengineering+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<mailto:geoengineering+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. > To post to this group, send email to > geoengineering@googlegroups.com<mailto:geoengineering@googlegroups.com>. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "geoengineering" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email togeoengineering+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to geoengineering@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "geoengineering" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email togeoengineering+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to geoengineering@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "geoengineering" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email togeoengineering+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to geoengineering@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. 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