Despite the drubbing some of us are taking this winter there are still the same CO₂-induced global warming predictions being made and so reducing the amount of carbon that's emitted to our skies appears to remain necessary. One of the ways that has been touted as the most promising has been carbon capture and sequestration. While there have been many papers written and plans made for this technology, not a lot has actually been accomplished and so, as with every scheme that takes a substantial period of time between ideation to implementation, skepticism is bound to arise.

And risen it has. The Energy Tribune, a publication that bills itself as, "Leading the debate. Beating the streets," has a particular abundance of articles on the subject including one entitled, "Carbon Capture in the U.S. Faces Hard Realities" that focuses on the American experience with particular attention paid to the de-funding of the FutureGen project which was to be, through carbon capture and sequestration, the world's first zero-CO₂ emissions coal-fired power plant.

And it's not just The Energy Tribune that is cooling to the future prospects of this tech. Germany's Spiegel Online has just published an article that asks, "Is Carbon Capture a False Hope for Coal Power?" It seems people are coming to the realization that making sequestration work is going to be very expensive.

As I read these articles I can't help but ponder the question, why do we have to spend billions and billions of dollars chasing technology that, even when perfected, is not nearly as perfect as the renewable trifecta (wind, solar, geothermal) in creating energy that gives us the added benefit of saving our environment and, indeed, our lives.

[Source: The Energy Tribune]

Plans to build a nearly emissions-free coal fired power plant in Illinois have been thrown into chaos now that the Department of Energy has pulled out of the project. Plans for the FutureGen plant began over a decade ago with a cost of about $1 billion. With the cost now over $1.8 billion, DOE as decided to bail out the project. DOE was going to cover 75 percent of the cost of the plant that was to produce electricity and hydrogen and feature carbon capture and sequestration. Instead, the Energy Department will now take the money and spread it among multiple other projects. The money will be used to pay only for the carbon capture and sequestration, while partner companies will have to fund the rest of the plant. The FutureGen Alliance still wants to proceed with the project. However, they haven't been able to raise the necessary funding prior to the DOE pullout. It's not clear how they will replace the government funding. The Energy Department came to the conclusion that the planned facility was not commercially viable. However, it's not clear what part of it they consider not workable. If it's the carbon capture and storage, redirecting it to several other projects may not make it any better.

[Source: Forecast Earth]

The Indian President, Dr. A.P. J. Abdul Kalam, has addressed the topic of energy independence in his speech to the 94th Indian Science Congress in Tamil Nadu. Raising his concerns for the level of carbon dioxide production through energy production, Dr. Kalam stated that he wanted to focus on how India can contribute in minimising carbon dioxide emissions. Currently, power generation capacity in India stands at 130,000 MW, but this is forecasted to increase to 400,000 MW by 2030. To achieve this massive boost in output, a range of different technologies will be required including large scale solar farms, wind farms, nuclear power plants, solid biomass and municipal waste. Power generated from renewable energy sources is hoped to increase from five percent today to twenty five percent by 2030.

India's partnership in the US FutureGen project to create the first zero emission fossil fuel plant was also highlighted. When operational, the prototype will be the cleanest fossil fuel fired power plant in the world.

On the transportation side, Dr. Kalam went on to say that India presently imports around 100 million tonnes of crude oil with a foreign exchange outflow of Rs. 1,50,000 Cr. per annum (nearly US $34 billion). This will rise to 300 million tonnes of imports by 2030 at present growth rates. Plans to reduce these imports include producing ethanol and biodiesel for blending at levels of 30 percent to 40 percent with petrol and diesel respectively. Biodiesel is set to be produced from 20 million hectares of Jatropha Curcas plantations, which is one third of the present waste land available in the country where Jatropha can be planted. At the same time though, he urged that research continue on future technologies like hydrogen.

Related:

• China becomes part of FutureGen alliance
• Genetically modifying Jatropha for biodiesel in India

[Source: Indian Press Information Bureau]