British scientists at Novacem have developed a cement from magnesium silicate which absorbs more carbon dioxide while hardening than is emitted during production. The high heat cooking required for conventional or Portland cement production emits about .8 tons of CO2 for every ton of cement. When mixed with water cement absorbs about half of this amount of CO2. The net production of .4 tons of CO2 per ton of cement produces about 5% of the world’s Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. Novacem’s cement emits only .5 tons of CO2 while the curing process absorbs more than twice this amount, 1.1 tons. Many years of testing remain and much will have to change to use this in more than a few applications. Converting even a small portion of the 2 billion tons of cement production from contributing .4 tons of GHGs to removing .6 tons is a good thing. Technology that turns a major CO2 emissions problem into a substantial abatement process are exactly what is needed to help solve Global Warming.
Obama Adds More Green to Science Team
Filed in Energy | Environment
President elect Barack Obama added John Holdren, a clean coal and nuclear energy proponent, as his next Assistant to the President for Science and Technology. The head of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Science, Technology, Public Policy Program at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Holdren will expand Obama’s clean energy team with his ideas on using nuclear energy and clean coal technologies to reduce global warming while reducing the nation’s dependence on foreign oil.
Cow Patty Power from Idaho
Filed in Energy | Environment | Politics
Idaho State energy czar Paul Kjellander sees BTUs where other see Cow $#!+ and he hopes to get others to see it his way. As head of Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otters Office of Energy Resources, Kjellander is pushing a package of income tax credits, property tax waivers and other incentives in the 2009 Legislature starting Jan. 12 to transform Idahos southern heartland into a methane Mecca.
That odor wafting from 550,000 cows that make up Idaho's growing dairy herd smells like energy independence and economic development to state energy czar Paul Kjellander.
With over half a million cows and ranking 3rd in dairy production, there is definitely a lot of manure. This contributes greatly to agriculture being the third largest producer of methane in the US. Methane by volume has 25 times the greenhouse effect as CO2 on climate and is second to CO2 in greenhouse gas contribution to global climate change.
Minneapolis-based Cargill Inc. soon aims to sell electricity from its $8.5 million, 2.25 megawatt digester and generator facility at the 10,000-cow Bettencourt Dairy in Hansen to Idaho Power Co., the state’s largest utility.
This is the agricultural conglomerate’s first such project, but Cargill has another southern Idaho plant due to open in 2009. It’s also exploring similar endeavors in neighboring Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, California, Texas, New York and Indiana, said Craig Maetzold, Cargill Environmental Finance’s operations manager.
“We believe the credits in renewable energy are only going to increase in value in the future,” Maetzold said.
Plug-in Hybrid Retrofit Plan
Filed in Energy | USA politics
Andy Grove has a plan to test the viability of retrofitting US autos into plug-in hybrids fashioned along the lines of GM’s Volt design. He suggest testing this on 1 million cars at a cost of about $10 billion mainly due to the continued high cost for batteries ($10,000 per car). He is also pushing Intel to get back into the battery business, suggesting he sees this idea as more than just idle speculation.
Grove wants to focus on retrofitting a few high volume, low mileage models to test the theory. His goal is to reduce the dependency of our transportation system on petroleum and therefore foreign interests by moving more of our transportation miles to rely on electricity. Arguing that electricity is generated using a variety of fuel sources and a higher carbon productivity rate, this will also reduce GHGs emissions.
His article received a significant amount of feedback encouraging him to prepare a response only a few days after the original was posted. Primary concerns of those writing in were:
Electricity Generation
Electrical Grid Capacity
Small Impact of 1 million Cars
Getting Political Support
and one reader who suggested he stick to his knitting and leave energy to others.
EU to cut CO2 emissions 20% by 2020
Filed in Energy | Environment | Politics
The European Parliament has approved a deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the 27-member bloc. The package will obligate EU nations to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels. The package also seeks a 20 percent energy savings and increasing the use of renewable energy sources up to 20 percent of the total. Lawmakers in Strasbourg also agreed measures to cut CO2 emissions from new cars by 18 percent by 2015.
Obama’s Green Team
Filed in Energy | Environment | Politics
President-elect Obama has followed up on his campaign climate commitments in selecting his “Green Team” for environment, energy and new coordinating positions. His picks confirm the Obama administration intends for the US to make an about-face on energy and environmental issues. His selections are experienced in alternative energy and cap-and-trade systems. In several cases choosing science and engineering over legal and political experience, Obama is clearly indicating the climate debates in his administration will include significant scientific evidence.
Steven Chu, the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a 1997 corecipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics, is Obama’s pick for secretary of energy. Lisa Jackson, a former commissioner of New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection who was trained as a chemical engineer, is nominated for the post as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. And Carol Browner, former EPA chief in the Clinton administration, has been asked to serve as a “high-level coordinator” on energy issues—and perhaps something of a “czar” on climate change.
Department of Energy – Steven Chu
At Berkeley, Chu has strongly advocated research into solar power and advanced biomass, in particular biofuels made from grasses that won’t compete for space with farmland. At a talk this summer in Nevada, Chu said, “In the first eight months of a new research program, we have developed ways to separate out cellulose, and we have already made a yeast [that] makes a gasolinelike fuel. Already within eight months, we are working on diesel and jet replacement fuels. We need to work with making this really scalable so it will outperform the yeast we have to today.” (One potential disagreement with Obama: Chu has criticized corn-based ethanol, which Obama has strongly supported in the Senate and in the campaign.)
Administrator of the EPA – Lisa Jackson
Ms. Jackson had been the head of New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection since 2006, and in October, Gov. Jon S. Corzine announced that she would become his chief of staff starting on December. She presently serves as Vice President of the Executive Board of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a program organized by northeast states to develop a regional cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from energy producers. She has a master’s degree in chemical engineering from Princeton and spent 16 years at the federal E.P.A. as a top enforcement officer in Washington and New York. She has led the Obama transition team at E.P.A. and knows the agency inside and out, according to associates.
Coordinator of Energy and Environmental Policy
Browner will work closely with Obama, who pledged his “personal engagement” in these issues, and coordinate the work of the DOE, EPA, as well as the federal, state and local governments. Obamo pointed out that Browner will bring her experience from the EPA of establishing the NOx and SO2 emissions trading programme. On the international stage, she was behind drafting the US’ submission to the Kyoto protocol in 1997, which he said was the “the best framework for carbon policy that has ever been developed.”
Ms. Browner, an acolyte of former Vice President Al Gore, will have forceful support in the new Congress, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Representative Henry A. Waxman of California, who will be the new chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Senator Barbara Boxer of California, who is returning as chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Opposing their efforts will be many Republicans and some Democrats, as well as manufacturers, utilities, oil companies and coal producers who will bear the brunt of the costs of any steps to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, the main culprit in global warming.
The nominees have a record of supporting high levels of federal involvement in energy and environmental issues, both in terms of money invested and regulatory oversight. During the early 1990s, Browner earned a reputation for attempting to uphold water and air regulations in the face of opposition from congressional Republicans. Jackson, likewise, at a congressional hearing last May on mercury emissions, told lawmakers, “Implementing the real maximum achievable protections is simply the only moral and ethical choice available if we are to meet our responsibility as public officials.”
Analysts cut EU Allowance Price Forecast
Filed in Economy | Energy | Environment | Politics
Citing lower forecasts in 2009 output along with an increase in the number of firms announcing temporary shutdowns, analysts are scaling back their forecasts for carbon emissions and the price for allowances for those emissions. Societe Generale has cut their forecast for EUAs a third to 17 euros a ton. They went on to say prices could rise to 20 euros by 2012, sharply down from estimates earlier this year that prices would reach 37 euros during this timeframe.
Deutsche Bank believes EU emissions in 2009 could be 10% below 2007 levels. This would push emissions below allowances for 2009. The excess allowances for 2009 can be “banked” for use through 2012 and the forecasted emissions for 2009-2012 remain slightly above the EU carbon allowances. As a result of reduced emissions and smaller shortfall, UN-approved Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) which EU industry can import from developing nations to meet compliance, may be able to meet the entire shortfall. Price estimates for EUAs and CERs clearly indicate analysts believe CERs will set the pricing for EUAs for the next few years.
The good news is EU will be able to meet the allowances under phase 2 with a small “carbon price” in this recessionary period. This is also the bad news, as the lower price reduces the investment per ton of CO2 available for carbon abatement projects. The net is by 2012, the European Union will have done less and perhaps much less to lower the Green House Gases (GHG) they produce per unit of energy they consume than anticipated when the allowance allocations were set.
Obama Picks Green Scientist for Energy Secretary
Filed in Politics
Packing up his campaign talk of tackling global climate change head-on, President-elect Obama has selected Nobel physics laureate Steven Chu to head up the department of energy. 
Chu heads the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, stamping his imprint on the lab with an aggressive focus on developing new alternative energy technology. “If I were emperor of the world, I would put the pedal to the floor on energy efficiency and conservation for the next decade,” Chu stated in an interview last year.
Chu’s experience in advanced technology and renewable energy and lack of background in fossil fuels signals Obama expects the energy department to concentrate on new fuels, experts said.
“I believe that the selection of Steve Chu suggests that President-elect Obama is quite serious about reordering the energy sector and executing his vision of a green economy,” said Jerry Taylor, a senior fellow at Cato Institute.
Lower Energy Costs vs. Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Filed in Energy | Environment
The 2008-2009 economic recession has had a major impact on energy prices and price estimates for 2009. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates petroleum products consumption in 2008 will fall 5.8% from the 2007 average and another 1% in 2009. Electricity consumption in 2008 is expected to be flat with 2007 and to decline in 2009. With spot fuel prices down from summer 2008 highs, residential electricity rates are predicted to rise 6% in 2008 and 5% in 2009.
The good news is that carbon based energy will be lower as petroleum consumption and electricity demand decrease. And with an increase in wind, nuclear, natural gas and petroleum fueled electricity generation, electricity produced by burning coal should fall 0.2% in 2009. Unfortunately, these changes do little to alter the GreenHouse Gas (GHG) emissions forecast from the “Business as Usual” scenario (See Increasing Carbon Productivity Tenfold).
According to the The Carbon Productivity Challenge published by McKinsey & Company, the world has 50 years to increase carbon productivity from $7,300 GDP per ton of CO2e to $740 GDP per ton of CO2e. Some big steps are needed with a cost for GHG emissions via a cap and trade system at the top of the list.
Van Jones on Green Economics
Filed in Energy | Environment
Big Think shares the views of Van Jones president of profiting from a Green Economy.
Van is correct that the Green Economy can provide opportunities for a people of all walks of life. And that we have to move and move quickly. The need to conserve, use renewables and offset Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) will create many jobs where there have been few. (i.e. Building Nuclear and Wind power stations.) There will be many jobs that come from the need to reduce GHGs throughout the rest of the economy starting with our own actions to conserve energy. And while the US does need to move toward better family balance sheets, the picture painted here is overly bleak.