A penny a day keeps the oil crisis away

A hearing on the “Carbon Capture and Storage Early Deployment Act” was held before the Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) allows for the capture and storage of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel electric generation facilities by means of injecting the emissions into the ground.

Congressman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) said that the bipartisan legislation was proof that both Republicans and Democrats could work together to combat climate change. Upton considered the bill a ‘no-regrets’ approach to dealing with climate change while heeding America’s economy and domestic energy security. Upton pointed out that it is crucial that America takes advantage of the nation’s vast coal reserves to produce clean and affordable energy. Upton referred to a Department of Energy assessment that approximately 89 billion barrels of oil could be recoverable by using carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technology.

Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) appeared most hesitant of CCS technologies as she brought up the liabilities and environmental consequences that need to be addressed. Blackburn said that the carbon dioxide injections into the ground could potentially enter groundwater and contaminate lakes. In addition, she discussed a finding from Columbia University which claimed that the excess carbon dioxide in the ground could induce earthquakes.

Witness Dr. Edward S. Rubin, alumni professor of environmental engineering and science at Carnegie Mellon University, estimated that CCS would cost an average U.S. residential customer ‘a penny a day per household’ or $3 to $5 per year which is less than the Committee’s $10 to $12 per year estimate.

The “inconvenient truths” of global energy

The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held a hearing on the challenges to meeting future energy needs and to developing the technologies for meeting increased global energy demand. Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) said that the United States is at a crossroads and now has an opportunity to develop the technologies to break the world’s dependence on fossil fuels. He explained that the final message of the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) report, the goal of reaching a fifty percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, is attainable by 2050.

Ranking Member Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) said that the U.S. is facing two big problems at the same time: increased carbon dioxide emissions and a growing energy dependence. Domenici explained the difficulty to agree on what options Congress should pursue in order to achieve the goal of a more energy efficient nation. He said that there are many “inconvenient truths” that the U.S. must contend with today, including the effort required to reduce domestic carbon dioxide emissions, which if not done correctly will be very costly. Also, Domenici said that no matter how successful the country is in limiting its carbon dioxide emissions, oil will remain an essential part of the “domestic energy mix.”

Neil Hirst, the Director for Energy Technology and Research and Development at IEA, gave a very detailed report on new scenarios and strategies for a more sustainable energy future. Hirst explained that a global goal should be to have carbon dioxide levels in 2050 remain equal to what they are today in 2008. This would require a huge carbon dioxide reduction; the amount of carbon dioxide reduced would have to be greater than current carbon dioxide emissions. Hirst said that the U.S. is facing an urgent challenge which needs a global solution. He also said that a global technology revolution is needed to transform how the world uses its energy.

Raymond Orbach, the Director of the Energy Department’s Office of Science, said that the U.S. needs to focus on the way nature provides fuel “so that we can follow suit.” He explained the country’s growing capability to direct and control matter down to molecular, atomic, and quantum levels. This increasing ability to control the fundamental, nanoscale building blocks of both biological and non-biological matter “holds out a promise” of eventually transforming the way the world will generate, store, transmit, and use energy.