HOW TO CAPTURE CARBON

Once again, the story makes the point: So far, "clean coal" is unproven (and probably a euphemism if not an outright oxymoron) but politicians keep promising it because the myth, like that of the hydrogen highway, takes the burden off of them.

CAP Offers Policy Guidelines To Lawmakers
May 31, 2007 (UPI)

WHO
Center for American Progress (CAP) authors Ken Berlin and Robert Sussman, John Deutch, Institute Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

WHAT
CAP report: "Global Warming and the Future of Coal: The Path to Carbon Capture and Storage"
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WHEN
Report released this week. The technologies discussed are undergoing DOE and private industry trials around the world.

WHERE
The new coal-fired power generation of concern is worldwide. CAP is based in Washington, DC.

WHY
- Present planning is for 1400 gigawatts of electricity globally from new coal-fired power plants by 2030, creating a significant burden of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) technology, especially via intergrated gasification combined cycle systems (IGCC) in the coal-burning plants, might alleviate those GHG emissions.
- IGCC and CCS have not been proven at commercial volumes and add 25% cost to the process.
- The report recommends emission performance standards that would establish IGCC & CCS effectiveness and incentivize an emissions cap-and-trade system which would, in turn, incentivize the development of IGCC & CCS. But these steps would add to the cost burden.
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QUOTES
- Deutch: “[The increased cost of power resulting from instituting IGCC & CCS] would fall heavily on the elderly and poor…"
- Sussman: “…a low carbon, emissions performance standard mandate for all new plants would accelerate emissions reductions. The mandate would send a clear market signal and require that new plants practice capture and storage at the level of the best performing technology…”