As policymakers examine tools and options for curbing CO2 emissions, the growing consensus is there are no silver bullet solutions. Instead, a combination of efficiency measures, renewable fuels and maximizing traditional energy sources will play a significant role in the future.
In the absence of federal legislation on curbing greenhouse gases, states are taking the lead in these areas.
Coal-fired power plants generate 50 percent of America’s energy and natural gas plants generate 19 percent. Presenters at Tuesday morning’s session, Maximizing Traditional Energy Sources, addressed how these sources can produce cleaner and more efficient energy.
“America has to lead the ‘Watt.com’ revolution. Those states that lead will reap the advantages,” Denise Bode, CEO of the American Clean Skies Initiative, said.
“Renewables like wind and solar alone will not solve the problem. Only when combined with clean-burning natural gas, whose supply forecast is up 18 percent over just two years ago to 120 years supply in North America, do you really have a clean and practical solution for the future,” said Bode.
Burning natural gas releases less carbon dioxide per unit of energy than oil or coal, and natural gas will cost less to use in 2007 than other major home energy sources, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
The Basin Electric Power Cooperative in North Dakota is exploring diversified efforts to produce cleaner energy from traditional sources. Chris VandeVenter, a legislative representative for the cooperative, described the cooperative’s carbon sequestration project—the largest one in the world.
Under the cooperative, Dakota Gasification Company sequesters carbon dioxide, or puts it underground. This involves capturing CO2 at its source and storing it away from the atmosphere permanently. Such new technologies, while critical to reducing emissions, may bring about utility rate increases for customers. The cooperative’s goal is to make its solutions realistic and affordable, according to VandeVenter.
Determining storage capacity of subsurfaces and potential natural impacts such as shifting of faults from C02 injections are major challenges in carbon sequestration projects, according to Brian McPherson, manager of the Carbon Engineering Group Energy and Geoscience Institute at the University of Utah. Moreover, the cost of electricity from a traditional coal-fired power plant is 5 cents per kilowatt; add carbon sequestration and it becomes 8 cents per kilowatt. Despite these issues, 20 carbon sequestration projects are underway across the country.
The oil industry has been using C02 injection technology for years to increase oil production; thus oil states have warmed up more to carbon sequestration and will likely become the early adopters, according to McPherson.
—Karen Imas
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