By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Tue, 2009-10-13 05:30
No effective, affordable, low risk solutions available
If we are able to influence the earth’s CO2 density and climate in a negative way, it seems logical to assume that we are also able to influence it in a positive way. That is the basic idea behind geo-engineering solutions to climate change. Those solutions generally include such ideas as afforestation, CO2 air capture, ocean fertilisation, cloud albedo (using sea water spray to whiten clouds and increase cloud reflectivity), surface albedo (using specifically coloured roofing and paving materials), creating stratospheric sulphur aerosols, and space solar reflectors.
Is CCS geo-engineering?
A recent article on the subject in the Financial Times also includes CO2 capture at the stack ('Carbon Capture and Storage', CCS) among other geo-engineering solutions. This is noteworthy primarily since this solution is generally seen as more realistic. CCS already receives significant amounts of R&D funding, in contrast with the other geo-engineering solutions.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Tue, 2009-10-06 05:30
Focus on PV, CCS, nuclear, hydrogen, biomass, and energy storage
In August, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the delivery of $377 million in funding for 46 new Energy Frontier Research Centres. The centres will be hosted by universities, national laboratories, non-profit organisations, and private companies. The research domains that were chosen offer a good sampling of those technologies the US Department of Energy (DOE) sees as potentially important in the energy landscape of the future. The funded projects are focussed on:
- Improving the efficiency of photovoltaic systems; with particular projects dedicated to hybrid inorganic/organic PV cells and nanometre-sized PV cells
- Advanced nuclear techniques
- Carbon capture and geological storage (CCS)
- Hydrogen, including the production of hydrogen as well as hydrogen fuel cells
- Biomass, including energy-rich plants and the conversion of biomass into chemicals and fuels
- Energy storage systems
- Superconductivity (1 project)
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Tue, 2009-07-28 05:30
Money goes to gas pipeline and CCS
Despite EU commissioner Piebalgs recent declarations that energy efficiency is the number one priority, the recently approved EU economic recovery funds for energy projects virtually completely overlooks energy efficiency. The allocation for renewable energy projects is also rather poor.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Thu, 2009-01-22 06:30
A crystal-clear and quantitative view of the road towards a low-carbon economy
The book Sustainable Energy – Without the Hot Air by David J.C. MacKay is a unique case among all of the current publications on this topic. If every author and decision maker involved with climate change and energy issues would take this book as a starting point before making any claims or proposals, the world would be saved a huge amount of discussion-energy, energy-to-disentangle-confusion, and energy-spent-on-fruitless-efforts.
'What exactly do you mean by "a huge amount"?' David MacKay would ask me at this point. Indeed, one of the remarkable facts about his book is that it is free of meaningless claims. In his introduction, he cites that most publications on sustainable energy do not give numbers or examples that are easily compared or put into perspective. What they do give are data used simply to impress.
MacKay’s book, on the other hand, constructs several numeric examples on how to create a low carbon economy in the UK. He reduces all figures to the unit of kWh per person per day, making the problem suddenly very transparent.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Thu, 2008-12-04 06:30
The top three challenges in this list are related to energy
What are the grand challenges that await engineering solutions in the century ahead? How can engineers put knowledge into practice to ensure sustainability, health, safety and quality of life for the generations to come?
The U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE) assembled a diverse panel of experts from around the world to answer these questions. The members are some of the most accomplished engineers and scientists of their generation. They proposed fourteen 'challenges for engineering' that they consider both achievable and sustainable.
It is significant that the first three challenges mentioned in the report are all related to energy. This focus is immediately apparent in the report’s Introduction: 'The Earth is a planet of finite resources, and its growing population currently consumes them at a rate that cannot be sustained. Widely reported warnings have emphasised the need to develop new sources of energy, at the same time as preventing or reversing the degradation of the environment.' The expert panel saw three main engineering challenges that could satisfy this need:
- making solar energy with energy storage economical;
- providing energy from nuclear fusion;
- developing carbon sequestration methods.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Wed, 2007-09-12 07:30
IPCC figures
Capturing the carbon of fossil fuel power generation plants and storing it underground sounds a great idea for mitigating climate change. It would allow for continued fossil fuel use in the coming decades. But along with several major technical issues that still need to be solved, one must also wonder whether Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) will ever be economically feasible.
The Oil Drum posted an article on this subject, based on a special report by the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC). It estimates that for a pulverized coal plant, the additional cost of CCS would amount to 20 to 30 per cent on top of the industrial base price. The consequence would be an increase in the general electricity generation cost of US$ 0.01 to 0.05 per kWh. By using carbon storage for 'Enhanced Oil Recovery' (EOR), this additional electricity production cost would be reduced to US$ 0.01 to 0.02 per kWh.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Tue, 2007-09-04 07:30
Allan J. Yeomans describes how in his book Priority One
According to Yeomans, it is perfectly possible today, without any additional technological research required, to take all of the carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere that has been released by fossil fuel consumption over the last 50 years. The solution is a special agricultural management that increases the amount of carbon that is fixed into the top layer of the soil.
One example is to sow perennial grasses, which concentrate a huge underground crop of soil carbon since the grass periodically sheds its roots. These perennial grasses can also be harvested as biofuels. In this way they simultaneously provide both carbon storage and an alternative to fossil fuel.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Mon, 2007-08-27 07:30
… and the role of power utility companies
If we are to build a sustainable energy future for Europe, a key role will be reserved for electricity. Its simplicity and cleanliness at the point of use, combined with the feasibility of clean power generation, make it a preferred energy carrier.
That is the main conclusion of Eurelectric’s study 'The role of electricity'. A summary of that paper was released in March 2007. While it is easy to agree with the general conclusion, the study would gain relevance if it did not limit itself to advocating only those technologies in which power utility companies play a key role.
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By Hans Nilsson / Published on Thu, 2007-05-24 07:00
The cost of CCS-technology is high (as with all new technologies for that matter) and may have drawbacks. Standard and Poor, more known for credit-rating, has announced figures between 450 and 900 USD/kW to be added to the plant cost in the area of 2500-3000 USD/kW. On top of that, there will be a power loss of 15-25% per annum for the operation. Furthermore, there are legal risks for the storage leakage.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Thu, 2007-04-19 07:30
An interview in the EU Energy Law Newsletter
In an interview on 29th March 2007 in the EU Energy Law Newsletter (Claeys & Casteels Publishing), Commissioner Andris Piebalgs threw some light on the main challenges facing the European energy market in the coming decades.
According to Piebalgs, one of the main priorities is the creation of genuine European-wide cross-border competition for electricity. He thinks courageous decisions will be necessary for both ownership unbundling and to facilitate cross-border trade.
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By Hans Nilsson / Published on Tue, 2007-04-10 07:00
There is a lot of hope for CCS as a solution to especially coal-fired power, but are these hopes in vain? There is evidence from experiments of CO2-injection that so-called rapid mineral dissolution could create pathways for the CO2 to escape back into atmosphere. And worse, on its way create toxic chemical reactions that could even affect ground-water. Certainly these experiments show that there is a risk that should not be under-estimated and that not all underground sites are useful.
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By Hans Nilsson / Published on Wed, 2007-03-21 08:00
MIT has conducted a huge study of the possibilities and consequences of CCS-technology by 2050. They are basically testing two major supply-side technology trends, CCS and Nuclear. One of the snags for CCS is that the geological formations that can be used are not necessarily situated at the same place as where the coal is burnt. Another is that CCS can not easily be combined with any technology for the generation either. So, the study is a valuable contribution to test the limits of how far the CCS-technology can be used.
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By Sergio Ferreira / Published on Tue, 2007-03-20 13:16
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has recently initiated a series of “Energy Technology Essentials”. Regularly published, these four-page briefings offer concise updates on the different technologies for producing, transporting and using energy.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Tue, 2007-03-20 08:30
Aggressive technology deployment required
Last month, the U.S. Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) published the paper Electricity Technology in a Carbon Constrained World. It is an assessment of technologies that have the potential for achieving significant CO2 emissions reductions within the next 25 to 30 years.
EPRI President and CEO Steve Specker in an EPRI News Release of February 15, 2007: 'This analysis indicates that over the coming decades it is potentially feasible for the U.S. electric sector to first slow down the projected increase in CO2 emissions, stop the increase, and then decrease the emissions while meeting an ever increasing demand for reliable and affordable electricity. The challenges to actually achieving these reductions are daunting in their scope and complexity. They will require a decade or more of very aggressive development, demonstration, and deployment of technologies.'
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Fri, 2007-03-16 08:30
A promising technique by CO2 Solution
The research company CO2 Solution of Quebec City, Canada, has developed a new way to capture carbon dioxide from smokestacks. It has genetically engineered E. coli bacteria to produce an enzyme that converts carbon dioxide into bicarbonate, a raw material that can be sequestered underground or used to produce substances such as baking soda, chalk, or limestone. The main advantage of a bioreactor containing this enzyme, compared to other systems, is that it does not require separation of the carbon dioxide. It can be used for any gaseous effluent containing carbon dioxide.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Thu, 2007-03-08 08:30
A preliminary report
In November 2006, the Commission Energy 2030 submitted a preliminary report describing the energy challenges that will be facing Belgium by 2030. The goal of the commission was to make a scientific analysis of Belgium’s options with regard to energy policy, taking into account appropriate economic, social, and environmental aspects. The commission worked under the authority of the Federal Minister of Energy Marc Verwilghen.
The report gives a detailed description of nine different scenarios, modelled with PRIMES.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Wed, 2007-01-03 08:30
At the Strategic Forum on Energy Supply in the 21st century
If we want to secure the world’s energy supply and mitigate climate change, there is no time to waste. That was the strong message of Fatih Birol’s presentation to the Strategic Forum on Energy Supply in the 21st century (Brussels, 19 December 2006). Fatih Birol is a chief economist at the International Energy Agency (IEA) and lead author of the World Energy Outlook 2006.
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