"Only the USA and China consume more oil than California," observes Jim Boyd, vice chairman of the California Energy Commission. With oil prices soaring, California must reduce its dependency on oil to sustain prosperity and achieve energy security.
As 38 million Californians deploy a range of solutions to reducing oil usage, the world will learn valuable lessons. In 2006, California consumption of gasoline peaked, even though population continues on the path of doubling over a 30 year period.
In California, more people are driving fewer miles; importantly, fewer solo miles. More efficient vehicles are being used, often benefiting from hybrid-electric drive systems. As an alternative to oil, there is a growing use of biofuel, natural gas, hydrogen, and renewable electricity.
Solutions to the state's, the nation's, and world's transportation needs were presented at the WestStart-CALSTART Clean Heavy Vehicle Conference 2008.
Many of the solutions were discussed by managers of large fleets. These people can save millions with improvements that passenger vehicle drivers often ignore, such as low-rolling resistance tires. Fleet managers can also install the infrastructure for their fleets; such as fast-charge stations, hydrogen fueling, and specific biofuel blends.
Fleets often pilot new technology years prior to commercialization. Large prototypes are later miniaturized for passenger vehicles. All successful fleets continually improve efficiency. In the transportation lifecycle, 80 percent of all energy is lost, estimates Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories.
John Boesel, President of WestStart-CALSTART, observed that linked trips, public transit, hybrids, and improved mileage vehicles are all factors in peak oil demand in California. Boesel is in a good position to observe future transportation trends. His organization facilitates bringing together fleet managers, vehicle and fuel producers, researchers, and top government officials.
Boesel discussed a number of reasons to be optimistic when we talked over lunch. Investment in clean tech and clean transportation is exploding. New lightweight materials are allowing vehicles to travel further with less fuel. There is ongoing innovation in materials. Hybrid-electric drive systems allow heavy mechanical components to be replaced with lighter ones. Engines are being made more efficient. Heavy vehicles that formerly burned fuel during the 40 percent of the time that they idle, now idle off. Major corporations and venture capital backed start-ups are creating next-generation biofuels and synthetic fuels.
WestStart-CALSTART encourages public policy makers to set performance standards and not attempt to pick technology winners. Government is also critical in early funding of new fuels and efficient vehicles. "There are many paths to the future," noted Boesel.
Biofuels will play a major role in reducing California's oil dependency. By law, California AB 2076 requires 20 percent alternative fuels use in 2020 and 30 percent alternative fuels use in 2030. The bulk of alt fuels are likely to be biofuel. By law, 40 percent of that biofuel must be produced in California by 2020 and 75 percent by 2050. This creates a challenge and an opportunity. California is the nation's leading agricultural state. Droughts and reduced snow accumulation are creating water scarcity for farmers. Corn ethanol and soy biodiesel generate tremendous greenhouse gases in their lifecycle of production and consumption.
New low-carbon fuels are being developed including next-generation biofuels. In pilot production, gasoline and diesel are being made from synthetic fuels.
To keep California's $1.5 trillion annual economy from running out of gas, the state is investing $200 million per year in clean transportation for the next 7.5 years. AB118 is the law that makes this possible. It was sponsored by Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez and signed into law by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The money is funded with vehicle fees.
CEC will fund $120 million per year for the commercialization of alternative fuels and efficient vehicle technologies. The California Air Resources Board will fund $80 million per year for enhanced fleet modernization and an air quality improvement program.
All these initiatives promise to create millions of jobs for a state that continues to grow. Despite a state budget crisis, no one is trying to remove AB118's $200 million annual investment in the future.
With intermodal transportation solutions, integrated freight movement, light materials, hybrid-electric drive systems, efficient vehicles, and new fuels, California is leading the way to control its own destiny without being dependent on foreign oil.
John Addison publishes the Clean Fleet Report.
5 step Cleantech Program by GE
Wind - In 2002, GE bought Enron Wind out of Enron's bankruptcy for about $300 mm, making GE one of the top 5 wind players overnight (it's now well in excess of a billion in revenue). It was their first cleantech steal, right before the wind industry got amazingly tight (and huge).
Power - In 2003, GE acquired one of the leading gas engine manufacturers in Jenbacher, making GE an overnight leader in small, clean power systems, and powering their way into everything from distributed generation to landfill gas markets.
Solar - In 2004, just before the solar boom, GE acquired Astropower, one of the top 5 solar energy companies in the US, for less than $20 million out of bankrupcty, after the company was delisted following accounting irregularities. You cannot even build a single solar manufacturing line for $20 mm. Only the subsequent silicon supply shortages, and a lack of the needed investment in the business and next generation technology kept GE from making a homerun out of it. But despite that, there will never be another steal in solar quite like this.
Water - In 2005, GE acquired one of the largest water technology businesses in the US, Ionics, to complement its previous acqusitions in the water sector. Paying a full price of $1.1 Billion, it virtually guaranteed GE a top 5 position in the reverse osmosis, desalination, and water purification markets going forwrad, right after Ionics was shored up through a merger with Ecolochem.
Ecomagination Brand - Then on the back of these deals, in 2005 GE launched its Ecomagination initiative, and anchored the entire company's image around its new cleantech empire.
That, my friends, is the way you make money in cleantech venture capital. I would venture to guess that GE has made 10x its money, no matter how you spin it. Or put another way, an IPO of the GE cleantech business would be the hottest thing in years.
Neal Dikeman is a founding partner at Jane Capital Partners LLC, a boutique merchant bank advising strategic investors and startups in cleantech. He is founding contributor of Cleantech Blog, a Contributing Editor to Alt Energy Stocks, Chairman of Cleantech.org, and a blogger for CNET's Cleantech blog.
Over the weekend, Virgin Atlantic Airways flew a passenger-less Boeing 747-400 partially fueled by a biofuel mixture of coconut oil and babassu oil from London's Heathrow Airport to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport. (Read CNET blog.)
The test flight, performed to evaluate comparative engine performance and emissions rates with standard jet fuel and biofuel mixtures, was conducted by Virgin along with partners Boeing, the engine-maker General Electric, and the biofuel companyImperium Renewables.
No matter how the results of the experiment pan out, and no matter your personal view on the fundmental utility of biofuels, this is yet another example of how a passionate entrepreneur -- albeit one with billions of dollars on his personal balance sheet like Richard Branson -- is exploring the cleantech frontiers of what is possible, what is economical, what is environmentally-beneficial.
Richard T. Stuebi is the BP Fellow for Energy and Environmental Advancement at The Cleveland Foundation, and is also the Founder and President of NextWave Energy, Inc.
Waste to Oil
Think you need special enzymes to convert plant materials into fuel? It looks like science is getting closer to eliminating that step. Pretty soon we might be able to directly convert crop residues, waste paper, and pretty much anything organic into bio-crude, which is essentially oil.
The secret ingredient? Heat. It turns out that raising the temperature breaks the bonds of organic materials (in fact heat pretty much breaks any bond at a high enough temperature) through a process known as pyrolysis.
Jim Fraser, in a recent article at the Energy Blog, explains how this works:
Fast pyrolysis is a process in which the organic materials are rapidly heated to 450 - 600 °C at atmospheric pressure in the absence of air. Under these conditions, organic vapours, pyrolysis gases and charcoal are produced. The vapours are condensed to bio-oil. Typically, 70-75 wt.% of the feedstock is converted into oil.
The product can be used not only to replace gasoline and diesel, it can be used as feedstock for the chemical industry.
Steamed Alaska
Geothermal power is coming to a resort near you. At least the ones in Alaska.
At the Chena Hot Springs Resort in Fairbanks, Alaska engineers have created a breakthrough hydrothermal system that generates power using "low-temperature" reservoir water at 165 F, in contrast to conventional systems that required at least 300 F.
Jack Moins writes in EcoGeek:
The plant cost a mere $2.2 million to build as it uses all off the shelf parts. It produces 200 kw at a cost of 5 cents per kwh, compared to the former costs of 30 cents per kwh when using diesel. The design is projected to pay for itself within four to five years. Hydrothermal power is very promising, as it is estimated that the water beneath the Earth's surface holds 50,000 times the amount of energy in the remaining gas and coal resources.
Among its innovations, the system uses a three-pressure system and ammonia-water cycles, which limits the use of toxic coolants. With this early success, the entire town of Chena is adopting hydrothermal for its buildings and a greenhouse for food production
U.S. Climate Legislation
All the major US presidential candidates are making global warming a part of the their platform. Whoever wins, policy for energy, environment, and even agriculture are bound to change significantly.
But democracy is not always a fast process. Dan Reicher, director of climate and energy initiatives for Google.org and former U.S. assistant energy secretary, says that the next president will indeed push for change but any regulations will take time to phase in.Rachel Barron, in Green Tech Media, writes: 2009 could bring a dramatic increase in support from Congress for R&D and more favorable approaches to clean-energy incentives.
Frank Ling is a postdoctoral fellow at the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL) at UC Berkeley. He is also a producer of the Berkeley Groks Science Show. Content provided by and all rights reserved to CleantechBlog.com, the premier site for commentary on clean technologies, news, and issues relating to next generation energy and the environment.
Bob Metcalfe is a friendly, handsome, easy-going sort, and he sported a bit of Saturday stubble when we spoke over a Thai lunch in Boston a few weeks back. Bob, an MIT grad who wears the school ring, is also the founder of 3-Com and the interim CEO of a biofuel startup, GreenFuel. Over lunch I did not learn much more about GreenFuel than is available on the company's website, nor more than is available on xconomy.com. Xconomy.com has been goading the company, and back in July 2007 published Bob's five-point plan to rejuvenate it and the technology.
Which is fascinating: high yield algae farms recycle carbon dioxide from flue gases to produce biofuels and feed. Algae's 'bout as green as it gets, and the GreenFuel process has biomimicry going for it: "Why expensively sequester CO2 when it can be profitably recycled?" However, growing algae, the kind needed for GreenFuel, isn't as easy as it would seem, thus the five-point fix-it plan.
I wanted to ask Bob, "you're a wealthy guy; you don't need the money; so why do you invest in this greentech stuff?" ... but instead peeled back a suggestion of an answer from the table banter. He invests in non-cleantech ventures as well as cleantech, would love to get into nuclear...and he is impressed with McCain and Romney, presidential candidates with same-old-oil-and-coal-box energy ideas that nod to cap-and-trade. What I surmised chatting with Bob is that his world view is one of business and technology and finance; solutions to problems aren't found in government, and GreenFuel is a business venture.
It's a world view with its own language, and it reminds me of heady days in 1980s-New York, dating investment bankers whose European and Asian compatriots oriented to the oppulence of Hotel Plaza Athenee -- an airy space floating out of touch with the masses, delivered by private car with driver. I heard the language and the world view again on E&E TV as Monica Trauzzi interviewed Michael Liebreich, CEO and founder of New Energy Finance, a London-based company that specializes in research of clean energy and carbon markets. He was talking about game theory in negotiations around climate change: nice, retaliating, forgiving, clear. The Liebreich interview is a fun, intellectual ride, but within it, like conversations I have with engineers and financiers, some critical link to success is missing...people and their own motivations to buy what engineers and financiers are selling.
Bob Metcalfe and I first met on the plaza outside of the Christian Science Mother Church, so it was curious when a September 2006 issue of the Church's publication, Sentinel, Exploring the World of Spirituality and Healing, recently crossed my desk. In an article, "Love Enough to Change the Climate," the editors wrote:
"[There isn't] much doubt that the primary cause of climate change is rooted in human behavior, and especially in the world's accelerating deforestation and the consumption of fossil fuels." Asking how to respond and adjust, the editors wrote, "We don't know how to 'engineer' attitudinal and social change. But we do know something about change at the level of individual experience--at the mental, moral, and spiritual levels. The one thing we are sure of is that lasting and universally beneficial change comes through spiritual transformation. We know, too, the importance of understanding what it is that actually needs changing, what produces the alternative effect, and how change for the better can come about in a systematic and dependable way. All of these steps are essentials in healing spiritually. And ultimately, the solution to every challenge is spiritual--it lies in the human mentality yielding to divine intelligence and thereby being reborn, or re-formed...Transformation of human character and behavior does not happen solely by national leaders signing treaties, by legislatures passing laws, by government agencies making policy or regulatory enforcement changes. Public attitudes change one heart at a time...Just as our bodily health mirrors the quality and tendencies of our thoughts, our states of collective social well-being and environmental health reflect humanity's mental state."
The article delves really deep into CS-speak which I find hard to comprehend, and ends: "Cannot we, as a global family, love enough to change the mental climate for the better? Can't we love Earth and those living on it it enough to commit to a Year of Thinking Differently. God's gift is the space to do just that."
This past week, I heard Elton John on the radio for the hundredth time, but the words of "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters" meant something for the first time. With the launch of Focus the Nation, a national student teach-in on global warming solutions for America, I reflected on the need to heal the planet, but in the context of markets and the global financiers, the venturers and the angels, the rounds and flights, as money in Silicon Valley and New York rushes to cleantech:
Sons of bankers, sons of lawyers Turn around and say good morning to the night For unless they see the sky But they can't and that is why They know not if it's dark outside or light
I can't help but wonder, can Focus the Nation transform the consciousness of the sons of bankers and the sons of lawyers? Will global financiers respond to a transformed and healing world view or are these world views forever disconnected?
One day, I'll ask Bob a clearer question: for you, as an individual, what is the connection between markets, your companies and healing the planet?
Heather Rae, a contributor to cleantechblog.com, is a consultant in cleantech market management and serves on the board of Maine Interfaith Power & Light. In 2006, she built a biobus and drove it from Colorado to Maine. In 2007, she began renovation of an 1880 farmhouse using building science and green building principles.
"Powering the Planet" is the title of an extraordinary speech that is regularly given by Nate Lewis, Professor of Chemistry at CalTech. It is a bit long and detailed, but very much worth reading, as it elegantly frames the scale of the worldwide energy/environmental challenges to be faced in the coming decades.
The gist of the presentation is that aggressive pursuit of energy efficiency is critical -- but we still need to supply the remaining human energy requirement in some carbon-free fashion, which leaves us relatively few viable options:
Nuclear power, which concerns Lewis not for safety/security reasons but because of inability to expand nuclear utilization quickly/sufficiently to meet the world's needs.
Carbon sequestration of fossil fuel burning, which Lewis says may not be available in time or at the volumes necessary to have significant beneficial impact on climate change.
Hydro, geothermal, wind and ocean energy, which are all fine in Lewis' view, but inadequate in scope to supply global energy demands
Bio-based energy, which Lewis finds to be highly inefficient and therefore unlikely to be able to provide more than a small fraction of worldwide energy requirements
This leaves solar energy, which Lewis concludes is the best hope for the planet -- technologically known to work, scalable with no binding supply limitations, at potentially reasonable economics with continued advancement. Then Lewis closes with the clincher: if we're going to succeed with solar energy, our priorities need to change:
"In the United States, we spend $28 billion on health, but only about $28 million on basic solar research. Currently, we spend more money buying gas at the pump in one hour than we spend funding basic solar research in our country over an entire year. Yet, in that same hour, more energy from the sun is hitting the Earth than all of the energy consumed on our planet in that year. The same cannot be said of any other energy source."
'Nuf sed.
Richard T. Stuebi is the BP Fellow for Energy and Environmental Advancement at The Cleveland Foundation, and is also the Founder and President of NextWave Energy, Inc.
As has become my custom, with the year drawing to a close, I now look in the rear-view mirror and try to distill what I see. In no particular order, here are my top ten reflections on 2007:
1. Popping of the ethanol bubble. Not long ago, it seemed like anyone could get an ethanol plant financed. Now, no-one will touch them. Why? Corn prices have roughly doubled, and producers can't make money selling ethanol into the fuel markets when having to pay so much for feedstock. Along with the increasing realization that public policies so far to build ethanol markets has largely been for the financial benefit of big agri-businesses such as Arthur Daniels Midland (NYSE: ADM), ethanol has now become a dirty word to many. Progress on cellulosic ethanol technologies may not happen fast enough to redeem seriously diminished public perceptions about ethanol generally.
2. Continuing photovoltaics bubble. For illustration of this phenomenon, let's take a look at First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR). Nothing whatsoever against the company; indeed, they make a very fine product. It's just that their share price has increased by a factor of 10 -- from $27 to nearly $280 -- in one year. At current levels, the company's market cap is $20 billion, at a P/E ratio of over 200. I know the solar market is hot, but geez, c'mon. A 10x return in one year on a publicly-traded stock is simply not supposed to happen.
3. Increasing costs for wind energy. For many years, wind energy has become more competitive, as the industry matured and production efficiencies were tained. However, with increasing prices for virtually all commodities (e.g., steel, copper, plastics) and a weakening dollar against the Euro (note that most turbines are made in Europe), the economics of wind are unfortunately moving in the wrong direction right now.
4. Gore as rock star. First, an Oscar for An Inconvenient Truth. Then, the Nobel Peace Prize. To top it off, becoming a partner at top-notch venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins. What next for the what-could-have-been 43rd President? Whatever it is, at least the cleantech sector now has its iconic poster-child.
5. Cheers to Google. Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) has gotten into the cleantech game in a big way by creating an initiative with the mission to develop and launch renewable energy technologies that produce electricity more cheaply than coal. Once that aim is achieved, renewable energy will rapidly become ubiquitous, and we really will start getting on a path of serious carbon emission reductions.
6. Death of the incandescent lightbulb. Early in 2007, Australia led the way to ban incandescents, to force a shift to more energy efficient lighting technologies (fluorescents for now, perhaps eventually LEDs). Amazingly quickly, the U.S. followed suit, passing an energy bill by year-end that effectively phases out incandescents by 2014. This should have a major energy efficiency impact, and yield a big cut in greenhouse gas emissions, in a relatively short amount of time.
7. Tightening CAFE -- finally! After decades without change, the U.S. Congress finally acted to impose more stringent corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards for auto/truck manufacturers. The main milestone is a 35 mpg combined car/light-truck standard by 2020. For the first time, trucks are now part of the CAFE equation, closing the loophole that helped propel SUVs to prominence. Strengthening CAFE is probably the most important thing that American politicians could do to actually make a meaningful dent in reducing dependence on Middle Eastern oil.
8. Uncertain future for coal. On the one hand, MIT released a major study entitled "The Future of Coal" that compels a radical R&D push to commercialize technologies for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), underscoring the reality that coal-fired electricity generation is going to be a major factor for a long time. On the other hand, I don't see any such coal R&D push actually happening, nor even that much progress on CCS. A recent statement by the U.S. Department of Energy concerning its oft-touted FutureGen program for piloting CCS technology indicates a possible retrenchment. Meanwhile, Pacificorp -- which is owned by Warren Buffett's legendary holding company Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRKA and BRKB) -- recently cancelled a coal CCS project in Wyoming, with a spokesman quoted as saying that "coal projects are no longer viable." Ouch.
9. Oil at $100/barrel. Starting the year at about $60/barrel and then promptly falling to near $50, oil prices increased steadily from February to November, reaching the high-90's. I suspect we'll see $100/barrel sometime in 2008; I don't suspect we'll see oil below $40/barrel very much anymore. Even at prices not long ago considered absolutely stratospheric, it appears that there's been very little customer/political backlash so far: the world doesn't seem to be ending for most Americans.
10. Serious dollars betting on energy technology. There's been a lot written about the big surge in venture capital invested in new energy deals. I find even more intriguing the increasing amount of corporate and public sector investment in new energy R&D. As perhaps the most prominent example, in the U.K., the government has pledged up to $1 billion over the next 10 years in matching support to private investments in the Energy Technologies Institute, which includes the participation of such leading corporate lights as BP (NYSE: BP), Shell (NYSE: RDS.A and RDS.B), Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT), Electricite de France (Euronext: EDF), E.ON (Frankfurt: E.ON), and Rolls-Royce (London: RR.L). That's a lot of money and corporate weight in the mix. I can't imagine that such an initiative will produce nothing of use.
Best wishes to you and yours for 2008. Let's hope it's a good year, even better than the one wrapping up.
Richard T. Stuebi is the BP Fellow for Energy and Environmental Advancement at The Cleveland Foundation, and is also the Founder and President of NextWave Energy, Inc.
Roadmap from Bali
So what exactly happened in Bali last week and what does it mean for green technologies? After intense and contentious negotiations, representatives from 187 countries agreed to push for a new climate accord by 2009 to succeed the Kyoto Protocol. In this time frame, the countries will have to figure out what the developed and developing nations are responsible for.
Only after intense international pressure did the US finally agree to the comprised version of the accord, which leave out specific targets for greenhouse gas emissions cuts. At the same time, developing countries including China and India agreed to certain actions.
But was this a win-win situation? Unfortunately for the US, they did not appear like a diplomatic statesman despite finally approving the accord. Brian Walsh and Nusa Dua at Time say:
"It should be difficult for a country to make the final concession that allows a landmark deal to fall into place, and still appear selfish and churlish--but the U.S. somehow managed to do that. Years of blocking climate action at every turn meant the Bush Administration came into the Bali talks with little public credibility, and while there was a sense before the talks that the U.S. might show flexibility, that hope was quickly dispelled."
Nevertheless, businesses in the US and around the world are more concerned about the policies that will enable the growth of low carbon technologies. Is a global change imminent? Alexis Madrigal at Wired writes:
"Around the world, green/sustainable/clean/eco-friendly businesses are gathering steam. Their legislative priorities are very different from the traditional corporate interests but also different from traditional environmentalists who emphasize conservation. Regular old businesses are also beginning to realize that they can be part of the solution to climate change too. As Greg Laden points out, a corporate tipping point might have been reached. Combined with the zeal and smarts of the climate change activists, this mostly passive backing could prove effective in changing politics around the world."
Skeptics Strike Back
In spite of the general scientific consensus that climate change is real and that action should be taken in spite of any lingering uncertainties, a vocal group of US experts maintain that global warming is a natural phenomenon.
In contrast to the recent IPCC report that details the grave consequences of climate change, these scientists wrote in a recent edition of The International Journal of Climatology that the recent warming trends in the atmosphere and the surface of the planet are not indicative of greenhouse gas warming. They believe that today's climate changes are due to factors beyond human control.
In this article in Agence France-Press, climatologist and noted skeptic Fred Singer is quoted as saying "that other factors -- like variations of solar winds and terrestrial magnetic field that impact cloud formations and the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth's surface, and thus determining the temperature -- are much more influential than human-generated greenhouse gas emissions."
Not So Corny
Many studies now suggest that the reductions in imported oil and emissions from corn-based biofuels are overstated. Now, there is further evidence that indicate the high production levels of corn are causing serious detriment to the environment.
Today more corn is grown than any time since World War II. The fertilizers used in these crops make their way into the Mississippi River and into the Gulf of Mexico. As a result, 7900 square of miles of ocean become a dead zone where fish, crabs, and shrimp die from a lack of oxygen.
In the Associated Press, Henry Jackson writes, "Environmentalists had hoped to cut nitrogen runoff by encouraging farmers to apply less fertilizer and establish buffers along waterways. But the demand for the corn-based fuel additive ethanol has driven up the price for the crop, which is selling for about $4 per bushel, up from a little more than $2 in 2002."
While most farmers recognize this negative consequences of growing corn, it only makes sense for them to grow corn due to the high price it fetches.
Is it time to curb our enthusiasm for corn-based biofuels?
Coming Up Next Week: The Energy and Farm Bills.
Frank Ling is a postdoctoral fellow at the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL) . He is also a producer of the Berkeley Groks Science Show.
A recent study shows that damming the Red Sea could provide 50 gigawatts of emissions-free hydroelectric power. This would be the largest power plant in the world. However, tens of thousands of people would have to be displaced, not to mention untold ecological damage.
Hank Green at EcoGeek writes about how this would impact the Middle East politically:
"The project would provide enough power to switch off oil-burning power plants throughout the Middle East. Political scientists are already estimating the stability such a project would bring to the region."
Sustainable leadership
"Sustainability" is now becoming a buzzword just like "eco" and "environmental." But what does it take at the corporate level to promote sustainable practices?
A recent report from Avastone Consulting examined what types of leadership and organization structure was needed to carry out such changes.
Joel Makower says:
"Their study found that it isn't a lack of systems and activities that limit a company's success, but rather the scarcity of what it calls "higher capacity leaders" and the direct relationship between leader mindset development and the realization of complex sustainability outcomes."
Baking soda solution
Jim Fraser at the Energy Blog writes about this simple but promising process:
"Sodium hydroxide, which is produced on site as a part of the SkyMine process, is used to react with the CO2 to produce the sodium carbonate. The heat to drive the process is captured from the heat in the flue gas."
For a 500-megawatt power plant, that amounts to 642,000 tons of emissions reduced each year.
Frank Ling is a postdoctoral fellow at the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL) at UC Berkeley. He is also a producer of the Berkeley Groks Science Show.
