Carbon Sequestration

Cleaning up after the enemy of the human race

Is “we’re going to burn the coal anyway” an argument for carbon sequestration? 40
Posted 1 week ago A frequent argument one hears in favor of a heavy focus on carbon sequestration goes like this: fossil fuels are fantastic energy carriers, dense, portable, and cheap. People will burn them up no matter what. So we might as well figure out a way to make them low-carbon by sequestering their emissions. It's a way to buy time as we figure out other clean energy options. It's a seductive argument -- it sounds easier to convince people to clean up what they're already doing than to persuade them to do something entirely different. But I don't think it holds up under scrutiny.
COOL(ING) TECHNOLOGY

Geoengineering schemes shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand, scientists say 9
Posted 2 months, 2 weeks ago
Sci-fi proposals to cool the planet are laden with risk but may be Earth's only hope if politicians fail to tackle global warming, scientists said on Tuesday in their biggest evaluation to date of "geoengineering" concepts.
Boucher: "Industry needs and wants a bill to pass"

Could Waxman and Markey have used the EPA threat more effectively? 28
Posted 2 months, 2 weeks ago
Should Waxman and Markey have kicked off House climate bill negotiations with a stronger ask?

The bill they introduced was effectively the USCAP proposal, which already reflected years of negotiation and compromise. The idea was that the difficult work of negotiations had already been done -- enviros and business both on board! -- and it would be easy for conservative Dems (and a few Republicans) to sign off on it.

Of course that's not what has happened. Republicans are balking en masse. Conservative Dems have compromised the bill down further, and by all indications will further weaken it in the Senate. Could the bill have ended up in a stronger place if it had started in a stronger place?
Acid Trip

“Acid Test” documentary on ocean acidification premieres tonight 6
Posted 3 months, 1 week ago
Sigourney Weaver narrates this short film by the NRDC that explores the growing threat of ocean acidification, a problem scientists are just beginning to understand.
Trees in the bank

Pacific NW landowners team up to market forest offsets 2
Posted 3 months, 1 week ago
A national climate bill could create a huge market for forestry-based carbon offsets. Companies looking to cash in are pooling together relatively small parcels of forestland in the Pacific Northwest.
I can't believe I ate the coal thing!

Coal industry downplays prospects for CCS as it seeks more handouts in Senate climate bill 5
Posted 4 months ago
The coal industry got a lot of goodies in the House-passed energy and climate bill, but it's pressing for even more in the Senate version.
Copin' with Copenhagen

What is Obama’s international climate strategy? 9
Posted 4 months, 2 weeks ago
International climate negotiations often seem like some sort of cosmic science fair project -- an aquarium full of hamsters connected to rudimentary motors. There's a lot of frantic running, a lot of sweat and heat, but in the end, very little light.

Faith in the UN climate process has dimmed. Joe Romm calls it a "dead man walking." The Copenhagen talks in December are generally discussed with the same dissonant mixture of urgency ("You have to do it in Copenhagen," says UNFCCC chair Yvo de Boer) and fatalism ("There is no movement," says German environment minister Sigmar Gabriel) as the last dozen rounds of international talks.

The Obama administration knows the danger of sclerosis and is working on several fronts to regain a sense of momentum.
Letter from Europe

Britain coughs up a coal-powered climate policy 0
Posted 4 months, 4 weeks ago
"Give me clean coal," UK environmental minister Ed Miliband seems to be saying, "and I'll give you a climate policy."
Just the facts, ma'am

Everything you always wanted to know about the Waxman-Markey energy/climate bill—in bullet points 12
Posted 5 months, 2 weeks ago
You keep hearing about the Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill -- aka the American Clean Energy and Security Act -- but what's actually in it? We combed through the 946-page beast so you don't have to.
This Sachs

We’ve got no choice but nukes and carbon-capture tech, says Jeffrey Sachs 35
Posted 5 months, 3 weeks ago
Economist Jeffrey Sachs says carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology and nuclear energy will be necessary to avoid catastrophic climate change.
Lowered expectations

Coal + CCS: not as expensive as other things! 1
Posted 6 months, 3 weeks ago
If I told you that my cross-over dribble was better than Stephen Hawking's, would you build an NBA franchise around me?
Conspicuous absence

60 Minutes on coal: Dancing around the question 9
Posted 6 months, 3 weeks ago
60 Minutes manages to spend 10 minutes on coal without asking the most important question: Can we stop using it?
But What'll It Cost Us?

As House digs into climate bill, debate focuses on costs to American families 3
Posted 7 months ago
As the House begins serious debate on a climate bill, the biggest sticking point is shaping up to be how much it will cost average Americans.
Monbiot cautioned to hold the explosives

Don’t throw out the biochar baby with the bathwater 4
Posted 7 months, 2 weeks ago
Take a Michigander

Granholm tries to convert Michigan “from rust to green” 1
Posted 7 months, 2 weeks ago
Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm is trying to rescue her state's tanking economy by taking it "from rust to green."
We Cement to Do That

Does carbon-eating cement deserve the hype? 0
Posted 7 months, 3 weeks ago
I am trying to identify the plausible CO2-mitigation strategies that are scalable — that can comprise at least a half a wedge.
Each In Its Place

Umbra on burning wood and gas 1
Posted 8 months ago
Which emits more carbon, firewood or gas? And is it even a fair comparison?
CSS'ing you in all the old familiar places

Boucher bill would put billions into carbon-capture-and-sequestration technologies 0
Posted 8 months ago
Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.), one of the House's biggest coal supporters, on Tuesday reintroduced a bill that would invest billions of dollars in the development of carbon-capture-and-sequestration (CCS) technology for fossil-fuel power plants.
What is the ‘best available control technology’ for CO2 from coal plants? 11
Posted 9 months ago
Investors will figure out that coal is growing scarce and too expensive 0
Posted 9 months ago