Carbon capture and storage – the Edsel of energy policies

Watts Up With That ^ | October 16, 2013 | Steve Goreham

[Rocky]

The war on climate change has produced many dubious “innovations.” Intermittent wind and solar energy sources, carbon markets that buy and sell “hot air,” and biofuels that burn food as we drive are just a few examples. But carbon capture and storage is the Edsel of energy policies.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS), also called carbon capture and sequestration, is promoted by President Obama, the Department of Energy (DOE), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for coal-fired power plants. In September, the EPA proposed a limit of 1,100 pounds of CO2 emissions per megawatt-hour of electricity produced, a regulation that would effectively ban construction of new coal plants without CCS.

-------------- (snip) ---------------

CCS requires capturing of carbon dioxide, a normal waste product from the combustion of fuel, transporting CO2 by pipeline, and then storing it underground. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy says, “CCS technology is feasible and it’s available.”

Carbon capture is feasible, but it’s very expensive. The DOE estimates that CCS increases coal-fired electricity cost by 70 percent. This does not include the additional cost of building pipelines to transport the carbon dioxide and the cost of establishing reservoirs to store the CO2 underground.

-------------- (snip) -----------------

Would carbon capture really have a measureable effect on global warming? CO2 emissions from power plants total less than one percent of the carbon dioxide that naturally enters the atmosphere each year from the oceans, the biosphere, and other natural sources. If the world fully implements CCS, it’s unlikely that we could detect a change in global temperatures.

But, worse than this, if the theory of dangerous man-made global warming is false, CCS becomes an expensive solution to a non-problem.

[Rocky]

Excellent article about Carbon Capture, a total waste of money.

The article mentions that carbon capture increases the cost of power production by 70%. One bit of irony not mentioned is: In order to capture the CO2 and compress it for storage or EOR, you have to burn more coal to create the additional energy to run the carbon capture equipment. So you are making more CO2.

The bottom line, though, is that CO2 is not a pollutant, despite what EPA says. We should not be spending money to capture and sequester it.

[spokeshave]

worse than this, if the theory of dangerous man-made global warming is false,

Too true.....

Welcome King Barack "Canute" Obama the Great.....

...Obama issues an Executive Order to the Sun...

....to increase it's magnetic field....

and make a good crop of sunspots before elections in 2016....

(PhysOrg.com) -- Sunspot formation is triggered by a magnetic field, which scientists say is steadily declining. They predict that by 2016 there may be no remaining sunspots, and the sun may stay spotless for several decades.

The last time the sunspots disappeared altogether was in the 17th and 18th century, and coincided with a lengthy cool period on the planet known as the Little Ice Age....and lasted 400 years.

Good luck surviving with no electricity and GE modified seeds.

[quimby]

You are correct. The period is called the Maunder minimum. Almost no sunspots for about 50 years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maunder_Minimum

[Islander7]

My favorite boondoggle was the plan to insulate the glaciers!

Duct Tape Methods to Save the Earth: Insulate the Glaciers

[Rocky]

My favorite boondoggle was the plan to insulate the glaciers!

I had never seen that one before. Thanks. Of all the idiotic ideas, that one takes the cake. It's wrong on so many levels that I can't even begin to discuss it. And how silly are they going to feel if they have a few more harsh winters in Europe? Some are saying we are headed toward a mini ice age for the next few decades.

[SC_Pete]

Carbon sequestration is just a way to cripple our economy—while China and others can buy carbon credits which allows them to use coal with no controls whatsoever. Like Al Gore and his swimming pool.

Once a global carbon tax and credit system is in place, the United Nations will have trillions of dollars in tax revenue. Ultimately, the goal of people like George Soros enemies is global government. Environmentalism is merely a means to an end—the end of America. With Obama in the lead.

[exDemMom]

But, worse than this, if the theory of dangerous man-made global warming is false, CCS becomes an expensive solution to a non-problem.

That is not the worst aspect of this. Throughout the existence of the earth, CO2 has been steadily converted by natural processes to unusable forms, making it unavailable to plants. The concentration of CO2 in the air is far lower than it was millions of years ago.

The biomass, or total volume of life on earth, depends on there being enough CO2 in the atmosphere for plants to extract. Once extracted, that CO2 becomes more biomass--more plants, animals, and other life. I do not know at what concentration plants are no longer able to pull CO2 from the air, but if misguided idiots who don't understand the carbon cycle have their way, we will see plant die-offs as CO2 is removed from the air. Of course, when the plants die from not being able to extract CO2, they will decompose and release more CO2 into the air, so the measurable concentration will not change very much. A *lot* of CO2 will need to be removed from the air in order to see a significant drop in CO2 concentration--but by the time that drop is achieved, we will have lost a huge amount of biomass.

Even without going to that extreme, schemes to remove CO2 from the air already are hastening the extinction of life on earth. Life will go extinct when all the CO2 is gone (and it is disappearing steadily through natural processes, as I said above). By the time the earth and sun go extinct, the earth will already be lifeless from lack of CO2, according to some studies.

Carbon sequestration schemes need to be stopped.

[abclily]

OK!! Everybody pay attention!

Lesson for today:

1. The sun is 1,300,000 times as big as the earth.

2. The sun is a ball of fire that controls our climates.

3. The earth is a rock.

4. The earth is a speck in comparison to the size of the sun.

5. Inhabitants of the earth are less than specks.

Study Question: How do less-than-specks in congress plan to control the sun?

[norwaypinesavage]

"Some are saying we are headed toward a mini ice age for the next few decades."

The temperatures have been dropping for at least a decade. What evidence to you have that this will be "mini"?

[Reeses]

Help I can’t breathe! Two atoms of free oxygen are permanently removed from the atmosphere for every one carbon atom. Leftists want to kill us.

[Rocky]

Relax. Man cannot reduce the CO2 concentration in the air in any appreciable way.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

DOOMAGE!

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