UKCCSC News 11 November 2008

Hi Folks,

The “world’s most powerful person” has talked the climate talk, now to see if he can walk the climate walk…

“Under Obama, Dark Days Seen Ahead For Fossil Fuels” CNNMoney (Nov 5)

“…an Obama administration energy and environment policy marks a tectonic shift for the nation. He would move the U.S. away from petroleum as its primary energy source and towards renewable energy, advanced biofuels, efficiency and low greenhouse-gas-emitting technologies”

https://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200811050054DOWJONESDJONLINE000043_FORTUNE5.htm

2) Still in the US of A, the Government Accountability Office have released a report “Federal Actions Will Greatly Affect the Viability of Carbon Capture and Storage As a Key Mitigation Option”. Snappy title.

It’s not terribly optimistic, but then it pre-dates (1) above!

“key barriers to CCS deployment include (1) underdeveloped and costly CO₂ capture technology and (2) regulatory and legal uncertainties over CO₂ capture, injection, and storage.”

The report is at:

https://www.precaution.org/lib/gao_on_ccs.080930.pdf

There is an article that sort of summarises the findings here:

https://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/10/19/1237/7760

3) A forthcoming report (1 Dec) with plenty of CCS implications.

“Lord Turner calls for wind and nuclear power in race to cut emissions”, Times (10 Nov)

“It’s quite possible that in a decarbonised economy we could use much more electricity than we do now,” he told The Times ahead of the publication of his report on climate change, which is due on December 1.

https://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/utilities/article5119232.ece

4) A news headline that could have almost have graced the pages of The Sun:

“BP and RWE shock UK carbon capture competition” Environmental Finance (6 Nov)

“The UK’s competition to build a demonstration carbon capture and storage (CCS) plant is under pressure, after oil and gas giant BP pulled its bid and RWE npower announced it is seeking a High Court appeal of the government’s decision to exclude it from the shortlist.”

That would still leave E.ON UK, Peel Power and Scottish Power Generation in the competition.

https://www.environmental-finance.com/onlinews/1106ccs.html

5) Meanwhile, good news from European Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs for the EU proposal to use ETS to fund CCS:

“EU energy chief backs $13 billion for carbon capture”

with a caveat to two…

“Piebalgs said any mechanism would have to avoid raising the ETS cap, must avoid windfall profits to industry, be temporary and fall within EU state aid rules.”

https://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE4A958020081110

6) “Italy’s Eni, Enel agree CO₂ capture pilot project” Reuters (21 Oct)

“Italy’s main electricity provider and its biggest oil and gas company signed a deal on Tuesday to create the country’s first carbon sequestration project, aimed at reducing greenhouse gases from a coal-fired power station.”

https://www.reuters.com/article/rbssEnergyNews/idUSLL51565620081021

7) “Climate change campaigners deliver petition against new Kingsnorth Power Station” Telegraph (27 Oct)

“The country’s largest development, faith and environment groups have staged a protest on board the iconic ship the Rainbow Warrior against the building of new coal fired power stations in the UK.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/3353869/Climate-change-campaigners-deliver-petition-against-new-Kingsnorth-Power-Station.html

8) Legal progress down-under, Vic being the state of Victoria, I suppose:

“Vic Parliament passes carbon capture legislation” ABC News (6 Nov)

https://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/11/06/2412235.htm?section=business

9) Actually in Europe but noted in Aus:

“WHILE you were distracted by crashing banks and clashing US senators, you may have missed a small environmental earthquake.” The Australian (6 Nov)

“The financial cost of warming the planet has plummeted in Europe’s emissions trading system (ETS) and the effectiveness of such a volatile market mechanism in curbing carbon is being questioned.”

“In July, the right to spew out one tonne of CO₂ from a chimney would have cost a power generator E29.33, but yesterday it could be bought for only E18.25”

https://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,24608324-30538,00.html

10) The idea of reacting CO₂ with rock is still alive, here’s yet another twist:

“Scientists say a rock can soak up carbon dioxide” Reuters (6 Nov)

“When carbon dioxide comes in contact with the rock, peridotite, the gas is converted into solid minerals such as calcite.”

“…they have kick-started peridotite’s carbon storage process by boring down and injecting it with heated water containing pressurized carbon dioxide. They have a preliminary patent filing for the technique.”

https://uk.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUKTRE4A59IB20081106?sp=true

11) Finally, this month’s free holiday offer is in Orleans, France, hosted by the IEA GHG and BRGM.

Apparently it’s ‘quite straight forward’ to get to, the travel from outside of France involves 1 (or more?) aeroplanes , 1 intercity train, 1 subway, 1 suburban train, a tramway and a bus. Or perhaps you live in Orleans and can walk there?

CO₂ GEOLOGICAL STORAGE MODELLING WORKSHOP, February 10th – 12th, 2009

“The aim of the workshop is to bring together specialist modelling practitioners from industrial and research organisations across the world, to consider the following questions:

• Is there significant divergence in approaches to modelling adopted by different organisations?

• What software tools are available for modelling?

• How much confidence can be placed in current approaches and resulting models?

• Do current models provide the necessary results to adequately inform risk assessments?

• Can modelling technologies be developed to fulfil likely regulatory requirements?

• What are the current knowledge gaps, and what should be the future focus for research?”

https://www.co2captureandstorage.info/networks/1stmodelling.htm

That’s all Folks Mark