UKCCSC News 18 june 2007

Hi Folks,

For the G8 meeting a week or 2 ago, I’ve was beaten to the post by Jon Gibbins, who circulated details of the G8 Declaration. This includes a Declaration of Non-Independence by the USA, or at least a purported willingness to act with the UN on climate change. The Declaration mentions CCS along with words such as “encouraging, supporting, prioritising”. There’s a notable lack of figures and targets.

Predictably, not everyone was impressed:

“Expert sees little new in G8 climate agreement”

http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?id=9857

The Declaration is at: http://www.g-8.de/Content/EN/Artikel/__g8-summit/anlagen/2007-06-07-gipfeldokument-wirtschaft-eng,property=publicationFile.pdf

2) Following on from the UK White paper of 23rd May 2007, you can discuss and debate the key energy issues at an Inside Government event "The Energy White Paper: Meeting the Energy Challenge," which will be hosted by SDUK Magazine on Thursday 8th November 2007 in London. To find out more or to book a place, go to:

http://www.insidegovernment.co.uk/

Another event which may be of interest to some is “The Marine Bill: Balancing the Social, Economical and the Environmental” taking place on the 11th September, 2007. http://www.insidegovernment.co.uk/other/marine_bill/

3) If the G8 meeting left you with a warm glow, this might leave you with a hot flush. Far from global carbon emissions falling, or at least increasingly more slowly, they are actually tracking the “business as usual” scenario. Or worse. It’s all in an article by Raupach et al. that will appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the USA, and can be pre-viewed on the web:

http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/0700609104v1

4) Global Warming and the Future of Coal: The Path to Carbon Capture and Storage.

A USA report by Ken Berlin, Robert M. Sussman

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2007/05/coal_report.html

For a discussion of the politics and legislation involved, try:

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2007/06/coal_event.html

5) Another conference date for your diaries:

CO2 EMISSIONS REDUCTION STRATEGIES FOR THE POWER INDUSTRY

"Carbon Capture and Storage: Opportunities and Challenges" 13-14 September 2007: Berlin, Germany

Speakers are from large companies and research organisations, I have a list if anyone is interested. For more info e-mail marketing4@marcusevansuk.com with “more info CO2" in the subject line.

6) This isn’t CCS, but is suggests that the effects of 450ppm or more are much worse than the conventional acceptance compromise of IPCC. Hansen calls for plain-written expert report on sea level change While scientific reticence has its place in documents such as the IPCC's, it hinders communication with the public about the dangers of global warming, says NASA's James Hansen.

http://environmentalresearchweb.org/cws/article/research/30116

Basically Hansen says a sea level rise of 6m this century is likely, not the 1m the IPCC concluded. How close is your house to sea level? Fortunately Edinburgh’s built on high ground. Shame about London.

7) China issues first national Climate Change Policy, June 2007 Sadly, there’s lots in here about economic growth, implying large volume CO2 emissions. More hydropower, nuclear, biofuel, and Coal Bed Methane use. Page 35 for the only mention of CCS. Still, they are only trying to catch up, it’s the western world that planted the goal posts…

http://www.ccchina.gov.cn/WebSite/CCChina/UpFile/File188.pdf

8) Australian energy producer Santos Ltd. submitted a proposal this week seeking funding and support from the federal government for the 700 million Australian dollar ($588 million) Moomba Carbon Storage project. Unconfirmed reports said that Santos has requested A$275 million ($231 million) from the Aussie Government. They are planning to store about 1.1 million U.S. tons of its carbon dioxide pollution each year initially. The plan relies financially on the creation of a market for CO2 emissions.

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/06/14/ap3820063.html

9) Pioneering CO2 storage facility opens in Germany

“EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs helped to launch a test CO2 storage facility in Ketzin, Germany, on 13 June. The pilot installation is the first of its kind on land in Europe, and was developed within a project funded under the EU's Sixth Framework Programme for research and technological development (FP6).” It will bury a rather feeble 60,000 tonnes of CO2 over 2 years. Compare to 1M t/a for Sleipner, or 1.3Mt/a for the recently scrapped Miller / Peterhead project, and questions such as “why bother?” spring to mind. Well, it keeps a few academics off the streets.

 http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?CALLER=EN_NEWS&ACTION=D&SESSION=&RCN=27850