Climate change discussion, OECD report, CCS

Hello all The OECD’s report on the global environment to 2050 (available to buy or read online free at http://www.oecd.org/document/11/0,3746,en_2649_37465_49036555_1_1_1_37465,00.html) includes a summary of where we are at with emissions trajectories at the moment.  On the current path, 85% of energy will be provided by fossil fuels in 2050, with an estimated atmospheric CO2 concentration […]

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German government major conclusions of a review of energy policy in its Energiekonzept.

On 14 September 2010 09:42, Matt Phillips  In case you have not studied the German Energiekonzept document, below are some informal notes on what it says. Last week the German government released its major conclusions of a review of energy policy in its Energiekonzept. If your German is up to scratch, here it is: http://www.bmu.de/files/pdfs/allgemein/application/pdf/entw_energiekonzept_kf.pdf […]

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Carbon Capture and Storage in the UK Questions that Need to Be Asked

  F.Starr PhD, BSc, FIMMM, C.Eng: Materials and Energy Consultant     Dr F Starr played a major part in the EU Supported Dynamis Programme, in which natural gas steam reforming, and coal based IGCC based processes, were to be developed to capture CO2 from fossil fuels. Both processes would produce a hydrogen rich gas which […]

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CCS Carbon Capture and Storage – the facts.

Dear Oliver, You’re not alone in your scepticism! However, you’re wrong about the CO2 emissions. The reality is that coal +CCS as currently defined/mandated emits significantly less CO2 than NG CCGT without CCS (‘unabated’), because authorities in the UK (and most countries except Japan) are demanding c.90% CO2 removal from coal, whereas CCGT emits about […]

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Gasification gets The Guardian treatment

Comments are invited on the two gasification articles found on the The Guardian website today. They seem to have been written on the basis of a Press Release, without much background checking. I don’t want a bad word said about the author, Alok Jha, who is lovely, but I really think we need to unpack […]

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Hydrogen – the green currency of the future

All governments have pledged to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions; this effectively means that the world must move to:

Electricity from nuclear, renewable or decarbonised sources
Hydrogen from renewable or decarbonised sources
biomass derived methane gas or hydrocarbon liquids or
heat as a by-product, or from biomass, solar or geothermal sources.

Of these electricity and hydrogen are purely manufactured energy vectors competing as intermediaries between energy sources and final consumers. In recent years the tide seems to have moved to electricity as the ultimate solution, but this article will take issue with this. This is principally because of the severe cost implications associated with either electricity storage or its corollary – demand side management.

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CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE – TIME TO DELIVER

What is it: Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), the process of capturing carbon emissions when fossil fuels are burnt on large scales such as during the power generation process, has been identified as having a key role in meeting the UK’s pressing climate change targets. CCS has the potential to reduce emissions by coal fired […]

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