Zero: Carbon Capture and Storage News - This news site explains advances in CCS policy and technology

House Hearing on Coal And Climate Issues - April 14, 2010
The Role of Coal in a New Energy Age full committee hearing included testimony from four coal and energy companies: Peabody Energy Corporation, Arch Coal, Inc., Rio Tinto, and Ohio Coal Association. What is the future of coal?

Murkowski Resolution Fails

"The bad news is that in a 60-vote Senate, it's hard to imagine a climate bill, or even a mere energy bill that does something about coal-fired plants, getting through."

Obama names loose regulations of the industry

He attacked what he said was a Republican philosophy in the past decade that had "gutted regulations and put industry insiders in charge of industry oversight."

President Obama pushes for comprehensive energy

"I will work with anyone to get this done" says President Obama.

A new study on the US Power Portfolio

"While there is a general consensus that the United States needs a new strategy to meet future electricity demands, policymakers are confronted with a multitude of opinions..."

Alston pushes Brits for CCS on Natural Gas

Britain's new Conservative-led government must ensure clean coal plants are built alongside gas, renewables and nuclear to make the deep carbon cuts needed to limit climate change.

DOE Starts 7 Projects to Advance Coal Research

DOE has selected 7 research projects under its University Coal Research Program (UCR) The UCR program has the dual purpose of advancing coal research and providing training for future scientists and engineers. Three of the projects have relevance to CCS.

New Analysis of CO2 Reduction Costs

Internal report on the costs of reducing carbon.

Anthony Cugini named Director of DOE's NETL

Anthony V. Cugini, a senior scientist with a range of research experience and interests over a wide cross section of energy and environmental technologies, has been named director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory.

House Select Energy Independence and Global Warming Committee held a full committee hearing on the Role of Coal in a New Energy

Top Two Domestic Coal Miners, Leading International Company to Answer Questions on Energy Policy, Climate Change, Challenges for Industry

CCS Interagency Task Force Public Meeting

President Obama eastablished an Interagency Task Force on Carbon Capture and Storage. This Task Force will hold a public meeting on May 6, 2010, in Washington, D.C. The meeting is supposed to be a general information meeting discussing the Task Force.

The Demise of Cap and Trade

Today, the concept is in wide disrepute, with opponents effectively branding it “cap and tax,” and Tea Party followers using it as a symbol of much of what they say is wrong with Washington.

Undersecretary Kristina Johnson weighs in on Energy Futures

"Energy Innovation Hubs: Research conducted at the Hubs involves large, multidisciplinary, joining highly collaborative teams of scientists and engineers working largely under one roof to integrate knowledge at the systems level..."

Obama to Open Offshore Areas to Oil Exploration

The Obama administration is proposing to open vast expanses of water along the Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska to oil and natural gas drilling, much of it for the first time.

Testimony for DOE Budget

Sec. Markowsky's testimony supported the original FY11 DOE budget request with $143M for carbon sequestration and $65M in the category of innovations for the existing fleet (focused on developing retrofittable, post-combustion CO2 capture technologies).

Rockefeller Bill

Here is the precise bill that will grant CCS technology developers funding for research.

Rockefeller and Voinovich produce new CCS bill

The program will authorize $850 million over 15 years for a cooperative industry-government research and development program in the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy.

Carbon Capture and Storage: On Your Mark! Get Set! Go?

The United States Carbon Sequestration Council releases its latest research on how to improve the implementation of much needed CCS.

Buried Trouble?

Protesters saying "no to CO2" are just one roadblock facing carbon sequestration, a strategy which could help prevent dangerous climate change.

Presidential Memo: Comprehensive Federal Strategy on CCS

President Obama today issued a memorandum (reproduced below and also available from the White House web page) establishing an Interagency Task Force on Carbon Capture and Storage (Task Force).

University of Wyoming to join ranks of CCS researchers

This year, the state Legislature will consider an allocation of $45 million in Abandoned Mine Land (AML) funds to the University of Wyoming. The funds will support a carbon sequestration initiative called Wyoming Carbon Underground Storage Project, or WY-C

DOE Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy, James Markowsky, Discusses CCS

Below is a link to an audio presentation by Jim Markowsky discussing his views on coal and CCS. He made this presentation yesterday at a NARUC meeting.

EU to invest in green power options

European nations agreed on Tuesday how they would carve up billions of euros of European Union funding to help develop advanced renewable power or carbon-trapping technology.

Secretary Chu's Presentation on 2011 FE Request

Here is a presentation on the latest funding requests: DOE is emphasizing both commercial deployment of CCS in selected applications by 2020 and the development new highly efficient power plants by 2015.

2011 Fossil Energy Request

Today, the Administration officially rolled out the President’s energy budget request for 2011. There was an $11M decrease in the Carbon Sequestration budget line, but that decrease was offset by an increase of $13M in R&D.

Drop Cap and Trade

Senate Democrats to the White House: recommend dropping cap and trade given other budget pressures.

Impending Expansion of NEPA

The Obama administration may issue an order that would expand the National Environmental Policy Act's scope to prevent global warming. The move could open up new avenues to challenge projects.

CLIMATE: 'Crucial year' begins for carbon-storage technologies -- report (02/16/2009)

This year will be a big one for determining a time frame for commercial development of large-scale carbon capture and sequestration, or CCS, a technology many policymakers say is vital to curbing emissions from coal-fired power plants, a new report finds.

State of Illinois, FutureGen Partners Highlight Significant Progress and Unwavering Commitment to Bring Project Home to Mattoon

MATTOON, Ill., Dec. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Illinois Department of Commerce andEconomic Opportunity Director Jack Lavin today assembled national, state andlocal partners to announce new developments in the state's effort to securethe landmark FutureGen clean en

DOE Awards First Three Large-Scale Carbon Sequestration Projects

U.S. Projects Total $318 Million and Further President Bush’s Initiatives to Advance Clean Energy Technologies to Confront Climate Change

CLIMATE: Shell exec urges int'l funding for large carbon-capture demonstrations (11/17/2008)

Royal Dutch Shell PLC -- now involved in three small carbon-sequestration projects, compared to none a year ago -- made a pitch today for large demonstration projects, mechanisms for funding such work in developing nations, and U.S. carbon rules to move th

CLIMATE: Researchers unveil guidelines for carbon capture, transport and storage (10/28/2008)

U.S. policymakers should give regulatory flexibility to the first power plants installing nascent carbon dioxide capture-and-storage technologies until the process is proven at scale, the World Resources Institute said in a report today.

CLIMATE: Carbon sequestration bill added to Dems energy package (09/11/2008)

Eyeing the potential support of key coal-state lawmakers, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) yesterday tacked onto her broad energy measure a bipartisan bill that would create a multibillion-dollar fund to speed the deployment of carbon capture-and-stor

Breaking News: Planktos Restarts

The team from failed iron fertilization organization Planktos, led by founder Russ George, just announced they have re-started as Planktos-Science.

The Evolution of Carbon Capture Technology Part 2

Carbon capture may be the future, so technology development and testing are underway today. Unless something dramatic happens to alter the political landscape within the next few years, it seems all but certain that coal-fired power plants will someday hav

The Evolution of Carbon Capture Technology: Part 1

Technologies are being developed that hold the promise of meeting future carbon capture mandates. They won't be cheap. This is the first of a two-part series on CO2 capture technologies and projects. Part two will be published in the May issue of Power Eng

Hawaii Joins Energy Dept. Carbon Group

WASHINGTON, June 10 (UPI) -- Hawaii has joined a regional carbon sequestration program. The state became the 42nd and the most recent to join the U.S. Department of Energy Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership Program, the Energy Department announce

Daniel Weintraub: Building a better power plant -- with no emissions

It turns out that producing electrical power without pollution is, well, rocket science. At least it helps to know something about how rocket engines work. A Rancho Cordova company founded by a group of retired aerospace engineers has just received fund

Clean Energy Systems to supply CO2 for underground tests

Rancho Cordova-based Clean Energy Systems Inc. will supply carbon dioxide from its power plant near Bakersfield for a project testing underground storage of greenhouse gases.

New Kern power plant to capture, bury pollution

One of the world’s first emissions-free power plants will be built in Kern County in the next few years as part of a government-funded test to capture carbon dioxide from large sources and store it underground, the California Energy Commission has announce

The Status of Carbon Sequestration

Cleantech Blog posting

DOE Awards $126.6 Million to Carbon Sequestration Projects

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) yesterday announced awards of over $126.6 million to two carbon sequestration projects designed to demonstrate the potential for permanent storage of over one million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) in geologic formations.

Canadian study pushes carbon capture

Canada's best choice for emissions reduction is carbon capture, a recent study said. An independent study recently completed by The Delphi Group ranks carbon capture and storage as one of Canada's most significant carbon dioxide reduction opportunities,

Top House Dems offer bill to stop coal plants

Two top House Democrats introduced legislation today that would prevent the permitting of coal-fired power plants that cannot capture and sequester most greenhouse-gas emissions.

EPRI's Courtright discusses economic, tech challenges facing carbon capture

Despite the Department of Energy's decision to not move forward with FutureGen -- a large-scale carbon capture and sequestration project -- several smaller projects are being developed throughout the country to advance CCS technology. There are still many

Appropriators look for cooperative approach to energy R&D

From the deployment of lithium ion batteries to redundancy in the restructured FutureGen program to biofuels, House appropriators yesterday accused the Energy Department of failing to produce results with its research budgets.

Elon Musk, Braemar Back Ocean Seeding Startup Climos

San Francisco-based Climos said it raised the Series A round of $3.5 million to complete an environmental impact study, develop workshops with research organizations, and apply for international permits to start its project. Like Planktos, Climos plans to

Governing the United States of Coal

The hottest topic at the meeting of the National Governors Association in Washington this weekend was energy, particularly how to figure out a way to cost-effectively store the carbon dioxide produced when power plants generate electricity. Carbon seque

Future Tech: A burial might be just the thing to deep-six global warming

Ten thousand feet below the Pacific's waves, 100 miles off the coast of Monterey, California, a large dollop of carbon dioxide spills over the edge of a beaker and lands on the ocean floor. But a camera in a vehicle nearby tracks the gas as it flows like t

"Climate Change Solution?" a feature article in High Country News

Beneath the Columbia River Basin, a real-life trial of the uncertain science of carbon sequestration

DOE is dropping FutureGen support, Ill. lawmakers say

Illinois lawmakers said yesterday that the Bush administration is dropping support for FutureGen, the $1.8 billion prototype coal-fired power plant aimed at demonstrating carbon capture and sequestration technologies.

FutureGen Alliance CEO reacts to DOE decision to hold approval of carbon capture site

Last December, the FutureGen Alliance announced Mattoon, Illinois as the site for construction of a government-funded coal-fired power plant that will use carbon capture and sequestration technology. Following the announcement, the Department of Energy did

DOE casts doubt on FutureGen plans

The Energy Department today warned of a reassessment and restructuring of the massive FutureGen carbon capture project, even as an official restated the department's commitment to it as a "cornerstone" of the Bush administration's energy security plan.

Engineering hurdles, costs loom for carbon-capture efforts

Existing technologies can capture carbon dioxide from coal-burning power plants, but significant costs and engineering hurdles remain for separating the heat-trapping greenhouse gas from other emissions.

Central Valley farmers new crop may be carbon

As scientists discuss the potential impact of global climate change, and regulators implement laws designed to slow it, farmers may find they have a new money crop: carbon credits.

‘More Than We’ve Ever Done’: A new law lays out an ambitious plan to reduce American greenhouse gas emissions. Can it work?

President Bush dubbed it a "major step." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hailed it as "a moment of change." But despite the bipartisan praise, meeting the aims of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007—signed into law last week—is not going to be easy

Coal's a keeper, so let's invest in cleaner technology, energy execs say

U.S. efforts to expand renewable and low-carbon energy must account for a simple truth: Coal is not going away, top energy executives told governors this weekend.