Publications: GHG Reduction Technologies Monitor

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 12/4/2015 Mississippi Power this week announced another cost estimate increase, this time totaling $62 million, for the Kemper County Energy Facility, a new-build post-combustion carbon capture and storage project under development near the city of Meridian. Such overages are not new to Mississippi Power, a subsidy of Southern Co.: The […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 12/4/2015 It is technically feasible, in four unique scenarios, for the United States to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, according to the latest Deep Decarbonization Project U.S. Pathways report. “Four distinct scenarios employing substantially different decarbonization strategies —High Renewable, High Nuclear, High CCS, […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 12/4/2015 Carbon capture and storage is likely to play a role in future efforts to decarbonize the global economy, but the technology presents many challenges beyond its hefty price tag, according to a new report released this week by the United Nations Environment Programme. “There is … a clear trade-off […]

GHG Monitor 12/4/2015 ON THE INTERNATIONAL FRONT Canada-based carbon capture technology developer CO2 Solutions said last week it has received $350,000 CAD from Natural Resources Canada’s ecoENERGY Innovation Initiative to support testing of the company’s rotating packed bed (RPB) carbon capture technology. Initial testing at a scale of 0.5 tonnes per day (tpd) of CO2 […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 11/20/2015 Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) this week introduced legislation that would allow businesses to use tax-exempt private activity bonds (PABs) to finance carbon capture utilization and storage projects. The Carbon Capture Improvement Act would make PABs available to both power plants and industrial facilities interested in […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 11/20/2015 Meeting in Paris just two weeks before the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), energy ministers called for the development of a strong climate agreement. “We emphasise the need to explicitly recognise and signal for COP21 that an energy transformation […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 11/20/2015 SaskPower’s Boundary Dam Unit 3 carbon capture and storage project has come under fire recently by members of the Saskatchewan provincial government, who claim that the company was not forthcoming about issues at the plant. These issues were no secret, SaskPower CEO Mike Marsh said in a telephone interview […]

House Versions Reported out of Committee, Floor Vote Set for Week of Nov. 30 Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 11/20/2015 The Senate on Tuesday voted 52-46 in favor of two Congressional Review Act resolutions disapproving of the Environmental Protection Agency’s efforts to regulate carbon emissions from new and existing coal-fired power plants. The regulations in […]

As is our annual practice, GHG Monitor will not publish next week in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. The next regular issue will be in your inbox on Dec. 4. We will issue bulletins should any major news break in the interim.

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 11/20/2015 President Barack Obama and a group of negotiators will travel to Paris in two weeks for the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in hopes of striking a new global climate agreement, and congressional Republicans are none too happy about […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 11/20/2015 To better address growing concerns about climate change, the United Kingdom will begin to move away from the use of unabated coal in the next decade with a goal of closing all unabated coal plants by 2025, Energy and Climate Change Secretary Amber Rudd announced this week. “It cannot […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 11/20/2015 The European Union stands to lose more than 1 trillion euros if carbon capture and storage is not available as the region works to meet its carbon dioxide reduction targets for power and industry, the Zero Emissions Platform said in a report issued late last week. “When CCS is […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 11/20/2015 Countries around the world are already implementing policies and measures that will aid them in reaching their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) to the climate agreement due to be finalized next month in Paris, according to a new report from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 11/20/2015 The Environmental Protection Agency this week heard public comment, from a generally agreeable crowd, during a two-day public hearing to examine the agency’s proposed federal implementation plan for its Clean Power Plan, carbon emissions standards for existing coal-fired power plants. EPA headquarters in Washington D.C. hosted the hearing on […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 11/20/2015 Mississippi Power has struck a deal with the state Public Utilities Staff (PUS), an advisory board to the Mississippi Public Service Commission (MPSC), for a 15 percent rate increase to offset the cost of the Kemper Counter Energy Facility carbon capture and storage project. At a Nov. 10 MPSC […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 11/20/2015 Researchers at Queen’s University Belfast have developed a porous liquid that, displaying the benefits of both a porous solid and a liquid solvent, could find future use in carbon capture systems. The material was developed by dissolving rigid organic cage molecules at a high concentration in a solvent too […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 11/20/2015 The Obama administration has not exhausted its options to implement policies to combat climate change and has significant remaining legal authority on a number of fronts, according to a new report published this week by green group Friends of the Earth. The organization asserted that while the administration has […]

GHG Monitor 11/13/2015 ON THE INTERNATIONAL FRONT Mexico has signaled its interest in joining the International Energy Agency (IEA), the agency announced this week. Mexican Secretary of Energy Pedro Joaquín Coldwell attended the 2015 IEA Ministerial meeting in Paris this week alongside energy ministers from the 29 member countries of the IEA. Current IEA member […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 11/13/2015 A coal industry advisory board to the secretary of energy this week presented a report laying out recommendations to deliver on policy parity for carbon capture and storage technology. The National Coal Council (NCC) has noted the many ways in which financial and regulatory support for renewable energy sources […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 11/13/2015 Completed on time and under budget, the Quest carbon capture and storage project launched on Nov. 6 in Alberta, Canada. The project is the world’s first CCS project on an oil sands upgrader and Canada’s second commercial-scale CCS project, following SaskPower’s Boundary Dam Unit 3 coal-fired power plant, which […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 11/13/2015 Carbon capture and storage technology has been slow to develop, but will play a role in efforts by developed nations to decarbonize in the future, according to the 2015 World Energy Outlook released this week by the International Energy Agency. “Rapid and widespread adoption of high-efficiency coal-fired generation technologies […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 11/13/2015 National commitments submitted to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for inclusion in the global climate agreement to be struck in Paris in December will get the world closer to meeting the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius, according to the latest Emissions […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 11/13/2015 New-build coal plants can meet the Environmental Protection Agency’s New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) without the use of carbon capture and storage, the Electric Power Research Institute said in a report this week. “Yes, technology has been identified that would enable new coal power plants to operate so efficiently […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 11/13/2015 National Economic Research Associates (NERA) said in a report this week that the Environmental Protection Agency’s carbon emissions standards for existing coal-fired power plants, the Clean Power Plan, will result in an 11-14 percent per year increase in electricity rates. “This analysis makes it abundantly clear the president’s power […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 11/13/2015 The United Kingdom may move to add retrofit carbon capture and storage projects to its Contracts for Difference (CfD) subsidy program, according to a consultation released Nov. 4 by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). The CfD subsidy is a private law contract between a low-carbon electricity […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 11/13/2015 Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz late last week announced the creation of a new international collaborative network focused on research and development of carbon saline storage technologies. The network, announced at the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum (CSLF) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, will “form a global network of large-scale carbon […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 11/13/2015 Getting significant air time at a Republican debate for the first time in the run-up to the primaries, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan carbon regulations for coal-fired power plants were harshly criticized by several candidates Tuesday evening. “The first thing I would do as president is repeal […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 11/13/2015 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton this week released a $30 billion plan to support communities reliant on coal that have been hit by the trend toward lower-carbon energy sources. “Building a 21st century clean energy economy in the United States will create new jobs and industries, deliver important health […]