News from the green world - ZeGreen.com » Carbon dioxide

“Clean” Coal Power Plant Canceled–Hydrogen Economy, Too

admin — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 12:08:49 +0000

The FutureGen coal-fired power plant would not only have captured greenhouse gas emissions, it also would have produced hydrogen.

The U.S. government—and major U.S. banks—seem to have lost their appetite for coal. After spending five years and approximately $50 million on preliminary studies as well as selecting a proposed site in Mattoon, Ill., the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has scuttled plans to build the so-called FutureGen power plant.

The facility would have captured the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO₂) that is emitted when coal is burned for electricity generation. Instead, the DOE hopes to help industry add carbon-capture-and-storage capability to advanced coal plants already in the works.

“This restructured FutureGen approach is an all-around better investment for Americans,” Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said in a statement announcing the change. The DOE is asking Congress for $407 million to research how to burn coal most efficiently, along with $241 million to demonstrate such carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies—at least $900 million less than DOE said it would have cost to complete FutureGen.[...]

Full article – Via : ©sciam.com

Japan CO2 Emissions Rise as Nuclear Output Drops, Nikkei Says

admin — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:56:15 +0000

(Bloomberg) — Japan’s carbon dioxide emissions increased 2.7 percent in the year ended March because of shutdowns of nuclear power plants, said the Nikkei English News, citing a study by the trade ministry.

Carbon dioxide derived from burning fossil fuels totaled 1.218 billion tons in the year ended March 30, according to the report. Carbon produced by burning fuels accounts for about 90 percent of Japan’s total emissions of global-warming gases, including methane, the Nikkei said.[...]

Full article >>> – Via : ©bloomberg.com

Global warming inspires enterprising solutions

admin — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 17:50:28 +0000

The phone-booth-size machine humming away in a Tucson lab may look like a science-fair project on steroids. Its inventors, however, say it’s a potent new weapon in the battle against global warming.

Its task is elegantly direct. The 9-foot-tall device, encased in see-through plastic, scrapes the chief global warming gas — carbon dioxide — right out of the atmosphere. As air wafts through, CO₂ sticks to large chemically coated panels while oxygen and other innocuous gases breeze by. The carbon inhaler’s developer, Global Research Technologies, is among hundreds of U.S. companies scouring for ways to reduce the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and cash in on federal requirements anticipated by 2010 to combat global warming.[...]

To bio or not to bio – are ‘green’ fuels really good for the earth ?

admin — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 17:39:46 +0000

The EU says we need them, some experts say they damage the planet. Who is right ?

From the top of the Greenergy refinery in Immingham you can see across the Humber estuary to Hull. A hum of equipment fills the air, along with a curious smell. Popcorn.

Greenergy processes vegetable oil. It takes the gloopy juice squeezed from inside rape seeds harvested on surrounding Lincolnshire fields, strips out the waste and chemically tweaks the leftovers to make it easier to burn. Greenergy pipes almost 100,000 tonnes a year of its veggie option to ConocoPhillips and Texaco, just across the road, which mix it with their diesel fuel.

Until recently, the operation was viewed as a good thing. Because the oilseed rape plants absorb carbon dioxide, the company says the carbon emissions of the mixed fuel are lower, which helps the fight against global warming. And because oil companies that supply the blend pay less tax, everybody wins. Greenergy is expanding and similar facilities are going up elsewhere.[...]