Publications: GHG Reduction Technologies Monitor

Martin Schneider GHG Monitor 5/23/2014 The Department of Energy this week released final Request for Proposals for the Mission Execution and Strategic Analysis (MESA) contract at the National Energy Technology Laboratory, making few changes from the draft version issued last month. The contract, which combines three previously separate support contracts into a single small business […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 5/23/2014 Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz this week stressed the need to reduce the cost of carbon reduction technologies to allow an ‘all of the above’ energy strategy to move forward. “Given our absolute commitment to looking for lower carbon options, we are continuing to drive cost reduction in technologies […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 5/23/2014 Carbon pricing is more efficient, economically sound and common than many believe, a panel of experts said this week at an event hosted in Washington by the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES). “We’re already paying a price—we already see a cost of the greenhouse gas fueling climate […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 5/23/2014 As the Environmental Protection Agency gears up to release the much anticipated performance standards for existing power plants and wades through comments for its proposed new source performance standards (NSPS), the rhetoric from both supporters and opponents of the actions are reaching a fever pitch. The existing source performance […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 5/23/2014 The United Kingdom must not stall any longer in developing carbon capture and storage projects, says a report released this week by the House of Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee. The report notes that while the UK has stated its intentions to pursue CCS as a means to […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 5/23/2014 As the Environmental Protection Agency works to finalize new emissions standards for existing power plants, the American Public Power Association released a study this week that suggests a unified market-based approach in the form of a price on emissions may be more effective. “The guidelines to be issued in […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 5/23/2014 Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage (SCCS) and the University of Nicosia’s Center for Green Development and Energy Policy (CGD) in Cyprus have reached a new memorandum of understanding regarding research into possible CO2 storage sites beneath the Mediterranean Sea. “Our research agreement with the University of Nicosia’s Centre for […]

IN DOE The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Annual Energy Outlook, issued this week, states projected CO2 emissions will vary with coal and nuclear power plant retirements. The publication, which is being released in stages through May 7, featured several cases addressing accelerated retirements of coal and nuclear plants. The publication states that CO2 emissions would […]

GHG Monitor 5/2/2014 The journal Nature examined the viability carbon capture and storage technology in an article and accompanying editorial in its May 1 edition, concluding that numerous questions remain about CCS and its ability to be widely deployed. While the editorial—headlined “No Magic Fix for Carbon—expressed skepticism about the ability of CCS to fulfill […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 5/2/2014 The Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) is making up to $30 million available to help U.S. teams develop new detection systems for methane emissions associated with the production of oil and natural gas. The new MONITOR (Methane Observation Network with Innovative Technology to Obtain Reductions) program […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 5/2/2014 GE this week submitted a $16.9 billion offer to purchase the thermal, renewables and grid businesses of Alstom. The offer consists of $13.5 billion enterprise value and $3.4 billion of net cash. Alstom’s board backs the deal, and has appointed a committee of directors to review the transaction. The […]

Martin Schneider GHG Monitor 5/2/2014 Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va.) introduced legislation May 1 that seeks to boost funding for the Department of Energy’s Fossil Energy program’s in FY 2015, proposing an authorization of $435 million for coal research and development, an increase of more than $132 million over the Obama Administration’s $302.4 million request. “It […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 5/2/2014 PITTSBURGH, Pa.—The question of to what degree new regulations can aid, or hamper, the development of new CCS technologies was a key point of discussion here this week at this year’s Annual CCUS conference. Former Wyoming Governor David Freudenthal said that a regulation which, instead of laying out an […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 5/2/2014 Contrary to prior reports that the Kemper County Energy Facility was on schedule to begin full operations later this year, the company announced earlier this week that they will be pushing that date back to the first half of 2015. In the monthly Kemper County energy facility project status […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 5/2/2014 PITTSBURGH, Pa.—Deputy Assistant Secretary of Energy for Clean Coal Julio Friedmann called this week for more investment into the development of new technologies to reduce GHG emissions. “For 10 years I’ve wanted to give this speech and say these words. Spend the money,” Friedmann said here at the 13th […]

Q&A’s Provide Insight into DOE’s Approach to University Consortium Martin Schneider GHG Monitor 5/2/2014 The Department of Energy this week issued a final Request for Proposals for Research and Development—Implementation and Support (RADIS) Services at the National Energy Technology Laboratory, surprising many potential bidders with a quick turnaround on the final RFP that was released […]

Martin Schneider GHG Monitor 4/4/2014 The Environmental Protection Agency earlier this week granted a draft Class VI underground injection well permit to the FutureGen Alliance for its carbon capture and storage project in Illinois, the first Class VI permit to be issued by the agency.  EPA will accept comments on the draft permits through May […]

Martin Schneider GHG Monitor 4/4/2014 Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz faced questions about cuts to the Department of Energy’s fossil energy R&D budget request for FY 2015 and the commercial viability of carbon capture and sequestration technology at a hearing before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee April 3. “At NETL, fossil energy research is […]

Martin Schneider GHG Monitor 4/4/2014 The cost of Mississippi Power’s Kemper County IGCC project has increased by another $177 million to $5.22 billion, according to the company’s April 2 filing with the Mississippi Public Utility Commission. The $177 million increase includes $152 million in construction costs and $25 million in start-up costs. “Additionally, management is […]

Martin Schneider GHG Monitor 4/4/2014 The Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory last week issued a Request for Information seeking potential opportunities for carbon-dioxide storage via enhanced oil recovery that may ultimately lead to competitively awarded funding for related projects. Specifically, the March 28 RFI seeks information on “opportunities and knowledge gaps that, if […]

Martin Schneider GHG Monitor 4/4/2014 Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy’s appearance before House lawmakers this week took on familiar refrains, with Republicans repeatedly pressing McCarthy on the agency’s New Source Performance Standards that essentially mandate carbon capture for any new coal-fired power plant as well as on the agency’s plans for new regulations for […]

Martin Schneider GHG Monitor 4/4/2014 ExxonMobil is confident that none of its oil and gas reserves will become “stranded” due to current and future greenhouse gas emission reduction policies in the U.S. and abroad, the company said this week in a report on managing climate risk that was completed as part of an earlier agreement […]

Martin Schneider GHG Monitor 4/4/2014 The Environmental Protection Agency will release a series of white papers this spring and solicit input from independent experts “on several potentially significant sources of methane in the oil and gas sector” to help inform whether additional regulations are needed, according to the Obama Administration’s March 28 methane reduction strategy. […]

Martin Schneider GHG Monitor 3/28/2014 Additional clarification is needed from the Department of Energy on its draft Request for Proposals for Research and Development – Implementation and Support (RADIS) Services at the National Energy Technology Laboratory if there is to be adequate competition on the contract, potential bidders told GHG Monitor this week. The draft […]

Martin Schneider GHG Monitor 3/28/2014 Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) introduced broad legislation this week aimed at accelerating the commercial deployment of carbon capture and sequestration through a combination of loan guarantees, tax credits, multi-year R&D funding and government-industry cost-share projects. The bill, the Advanced Clean Coal Technology for Our Nation (ACCTION) Act, “seeks to remedy […]

Martin Schneider GHG Monitor 3/28/2014 Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy defended the EPA’s FY 2015 budget request in two hearings on Capitol Hill this week, highlighting the Obama Administration’s emphasis on combating climate change as lawmakers focused primarily on new water regulations and a employee scandal at the agency involving a senior manager posing […]

Martin Schneider GHG Monitor 3/28/2014 Acting Department of Energy fossil energy chief Chris Smith faced few direct questions from House appropriators during a March 25 hearing on DOE’s applied energy budget request for FY 2015, though proposed cuts in the Department’s fossil energy request did come in for criticism from Republicans on the panel. “I […]

From staff reports GHG Monitor 3/28/2014 As the Environmental Protection Agency moves forward with a new rule for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants, one important question the agency faces is whether it will only examine options “inside the fence line”—those at the plant itself—or consider options that would be “outside the fence […]

Mike Nartker GHG Monitor 3/28/2014 A Canadian not-for-profit group has begun seeking to help provide funding support for projects in the Canadian province of Alberta intended to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Climate Change and Emissions Management Corporation (CCEMC) is offering to provide a total of $65 million, with a maximum of $25 million […]

A March 25 article in the magazine Wired sets out the case for coal and carbon capture and storage technology. “Many energy and climate researchers believe that CCS is vital to avoiding a climate catastrophe. Because it could allow the globe to keep burning its most abundant fuel source while drastically reducing carbon dioxide and soot, it may be more important—though much less publicized—than any renewable-energy technology for decades to come.”