UKCCSC News 30 November 2007

Hi Folks,

Here’s seven svelte sequestration stories, for your stimulation.

Actually there are 8, so the first will have to be the zeroth, if that’s not a contradiction. Incidentally, zeroth is a word recognised by Google, Wikipedia and thermodynamicists, but not MS Word, so no complaints please!

0) “Climate chief calls for 80% cuts in greenhouse gas” Guardian Unlimited

“[Sir Nicholas] Stern, who produced a high-profile review of the economics of climate change last year, says rich countries must show leadership at a UN conference in Bali next week and aim for 80% cuts in their own pollution by 2050. The meeting will aim to agree the scope and timescale of a treaty to replace the Kyoto protocol when it expires in 2012.”

So, if you didn’t know about next week’s meeting in Bali, you do now.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/nov/30/climatechange.carbonemissions

1) There is a raft of new European legislation coming which concerns CCS, as you may know, watch this space in January. As a prelude, the following alteration to the ETS will be important:

“EU sees carbon capture in trade scheme –draft” Guardian Unlimited

“The European Commission will propose carbon dioxide (CO₂) that companies capture and store get credit under the European Union's emissions trading scheme as not having been emitted, a draft proposal shows.”

Possibly not the most easily-read sentence ever written?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7110754

2) “Joint carbon project launched”, China Daily

“China and the UK Tuesday jointly launched a carbon sequestration project for coal-fired power plants in a bid to cut greenhouse gas emissions.”

The 3 stage plan involves the first up-and-running CCS demonstration by 2014.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-11/21/content_6268055.htm

This may or may not be the same news item with a slightly different spin:

“Leading China Closer To Carbon Capture And Storage”, ScienceDaily

“The British Geological Survey (BGS) recently attended the launch of the Near Zero Emissions Coal (NZEC) Phase 1 study in Beijing, China.”

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071120104545.htm

3) Continuing the international theme, here’s a project proposal in Aus:

“Santos Welcomes Funding Commitment for Moomba Carbon Storage”, OilVoice

Santos welcomes the announcement that a Coalition Government would commit $10 million to fast track development of the Moomba Carbon Storage (MCS) concept - a project with the potential to become the world’s largest CO2 storage facility. Santos and its joint venture partners would match the federal funding commitment by also contributing $10 million to advance what is known as the Front End Engineering and Design (FEED), or project definition, phase of MCS. FEED would then inform the Final Investment Decision, expected in mid-2008.

http://www.oilvoice.com/n/Santos_Welcomes_Funding_Commitment_for_Moomba_Carbon_Storage/8c536b81.aspx

Also: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/23/2098888.htm

4) Sadly, this month’s award for dodgy reporting goes to Cordis, who are (I think) the EU’s Community Research & Development Information Service. I might have hoped for better?

“DECARBit project to investigate cheaper carbon capture technologies”

“New EU-funded research on pre-combustion carbon capture technologies for gas- and coal-fired power plants is about to get underway. The four-year DECARBit project, supported by the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), will be coordinated by the independent Norwegian research organisation SINTEF and involve 14 partners from eight different countries.”

So far so good. But the last paragraph says this:

“…stakeholders have rushed towards CCS as a means to combat climate change. But critics warn of the possible risks of carbon storage. The effects of marine sequestration, storage in the open ocean, open acquifiers and lakes or on the sea floor, for instance, are still widely unknown.”

‘Marine sequestration’? Ocean storage has been abandoned long since, as for storage in lakes, perhaps this has been mooted but it’s hardly a mainstream option.

And no, you don’t spell ‘acquifers’ like that!

http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?CALLER=EN_NEWS&ACTION=D&SESSION=&RCN=28730

5) North Sea pipeline infrastructure report This envisages 5 phases of development, led by Tees, Humber and SE England storage into Triassic aquifers and depleted gasfields. EOR viable at more than $100 per barrel.

http://www.gnn.gov.uk/environment/mediaDetail.asp?MediaDetailsID=223550&NewsAreaID=2&ClientID=379&LocaleID=2

6) Commission on Environmental markets and Economic performance UK has a very large opportunity, especially in developing processes, products also monitoring and cleanup including decarbonisation.

http://www.gnn.gov.uk/environment/mediaDetail.asp?MediaDetailsID=223548&NewsAreaID=2&ClientID=379&LocaleID=2

7) Hillary Clinton ‘promises’ 10 CCS Demonstrators for the USA ?

Apparently, Hilary Clinton’s election manifesto (that’s for the USA presidency, in case you’re freshly back from Mars or somewhere) promises 10 CCS demonstrators will be built in the USA. I’ve tried to check this using a well-known search engine, but HC’s name brings up so many pages accusing her of communism, socialism, Zoroastrianism, etc etc that it’s impossible to verify. Has anyone got the official URL?

And who writes software that recognises 'Zoroastrianism' but not 'zeroth'?

That’s all folks,

Mark