The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments yesterday in a case regarding whether the Obama administration acted within its authority when it used the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions – carbon dioxide specifically – as pollutants under the Clean Air Act. Unable to advance their climate change mitigation strategy in Congress, the administration has… Keep reading →
In 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed into law an amendment to the Clean Air Act that mandated emissions reductions of the harmful pollutant sulfur dioxide, SO2, from coal-fired power plants. The government did not instruct industry how they were to achieve the reductions, but merely that they were required to. A novel system called… Keep reading →
Novomer is a small start-up chemistry company developing novel methods for converting waste carbon dioxide, CO2, into useful plastics, polymers and chemical intermediates. Novomer has developed proprietary catalysts that react with CO2 and allow it to bond with other molecules. CO2 is a difficult molecule to work with for the same reasons that it accumulates… Keep reading →
Joule is a biotech firm developing a breakthrough photosynthesis based system for the production of liquid fuels using biocatalysts fueled by sunlight and carbon dioxide. The Joule process looks like many of the algal biofuel processes from the outside, but under the hood it is completely different. If proven successful the Joule process could be… Keep reading →
EPA has issued final Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) regulations to conditionally exclude carbon dioxide (CO2) streams in geologic sequestration activities from the definition of hazardous waste. On January 3, 2014, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued final revisions for hazardous waste management under RCRA to conditionally exclude CO2 streams from the definition of… Keep reading →
Mexican lawmakers have passed an energy reform bill that will open up the country’s oil and gas resources to foreign investment, ending a 75-year monopoly by state-controlled Pemex. According to the Wall Street Journal, the voting process involved both fistfights and accusations of treason. [Wall Street Journal] Plans for the 99-story Pertamina Energy Tower, to… Keep reading →
See a photo gallery of the Secretary’s visit to Kemper. Liberty, Mississippi, a small town in the eastern county of Kemper, is quietly making energy history. Liberty is the home of the largest carbon capture and storage (CCS) plant in the country. The plant, commonly called the Kemper County Project, will use state-of-the-art emission controls to produce… Keep reading →
The Sierra Club’s campaign against coal-fired power in the US reached a major milestone with the announcement that the Brayton Point Power Station in Massachusetts would retire by 2017, which marked 150 coal plants that announced plans to retire since 2010. Several celebrities joined the cause, including Elle Macpherson, Edward James Olmos and Ian Somerhalder.… Keep reading →
California Air Resources Board has announced issuance of the first carbon offset credits for cap-and-trade program compliance. On September 17, 2013, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) announced issuance of 600,000 compliance-grade carbon offset credits for use in the cap-and-trade program. The offset credits will be issued through the Compliance Instrument Tracking System for state-issued carbon… Keep reading →
Policy matters. Whether in one of the world’s richest countries or one of its poorest, access to clean and secure energy supplies relies on clear and reliable policy and regulatory signals, the results of a recent ranking of 129 nations by the World Energy Council and Oliver Wyman indicate. But given room to comment in… Keep reading →
