Today, U.S. President Joe Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, securing an historic $369 billion investment in clean energy and climate action. CATF issued the following statement from its President, Armond Cohen: 

“Today marks a critical victory in U.S. climate policy. Managing climate change is first and foremost about the supply side: transitioning from carbon-emitting energy to zero-carbon energy. This historic bill accelerates that shift in a pragmatic way that, importantly, is based on building a durable consensus across constituencies. The Inflation Reduction Act is not only the largest-ever U.S. investment in climate action, it’s also a model for global climate policy because it is grounded in technical and economic reality and recognizes that we need more options, not fewer, to solve this problem. 

And this legislation indeed approaches the mission with all the tools available: methane abatement, clean energy infrastructure deployment, carbon capture and storage, zero-carbon fuels, nuclear energy, superhot rock energy, and more. Each of these tools has a role to play in driving down U.S. emissions, and innovation here will not only create whole new industries and technologies but, also, in doing so, help drive global decarbonization efforts.  

As we celebrate this moment, we must also prepare for the hard work of getting the Inflation Reduction Act implemented efficiently at the federal and state level and getting the clean energy systems authorized and built — while working to drive similar progress around the world. Onwards!” 

— Armond Cohen, President, Clean Air Task Force 

Press Contact

Troy Shaheen, Communications Director, U.S., [email protected], +1 845-750-1189

About Clean Air Task Force 

Clean Air Task Force (CATF) is a global nonprofit organization working to safeguard against the worst impacts of climate change by catalyzing the rapid development and deployment of low-carbon energy and other climate-protecting technologies. With 25 years of internationally recognized expertise on climate policy and a fierce commitment to exploring all potential solutions, CATF is a pragmatic, non-ideological advocacy group with the bold ideas needed to address climate change. CATF has offices in Boston, Washington D.C., and Brussels, with staff working virtually around the world. Visit catf.us and follow @cleanaircatf.

Originally Appeared Here

HARRISBURG – Clean Air Task Force (CATF) joined Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf and more than 50 elected officials, labor unions, companies, environmental organizations, and academic institutions this week to launch the Pennsylvania Energy Horizons Cross-Sector Collaborative, collectively committing to decarbonize the Keystone State by advancing critical climate solutions like carbon capture and hydrogen. 

“Pennsylvania has the opportunity to be a key player in the national and global energy transition while safeguarding its economic future, and CATF is proud to be part of the diverse group of stakeholders working to make sure it seizes it” said Andrew Place, State Energy and Climate Policy Director, Clean Air Task Force. “Not only can solutions like hydrogen and carbon capture help Pennsylvania reduce its emissions, they can also ensure the state decarbonizes in a way that maintains and creates jobs, strengthens communities, and positions itself for economic resilience in a carbon constrained world. The benefits of investing in these technologies are multi-fold, as evidenced by the diversity and prominence of those publicly backing them in Pennsylvania.” 

Participants in the collaborative include U.S. Steel, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Pennsylvania Environmental Council, and Lehigh University, as well as Senator Robert P. Casey Jr. and Representatives Conor Lamb and Mike Doyle. A full list of members can be found here.   

The effort was coordinated by the Team Pennsylvania Foundation and builds on the Foundation’s work with Pennsylvania and the Wolf Administration on carbon capture and hydrogen, including the creation of the CCUS Interagency Workgroup in 2019 and the state’s signing on to the eight-state Regional Carbon Dioxide Transport Infrastructure Action Plan in 2021. 
 
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the International Energy Agency (IEA), and other leading scientists and economic modelers have found that both hydrogen and carbon capture have a critical role to play in achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, with both solutions factoring strongly into most decarbonization pathways. Among other efforts, CATF advocates for policies on the federal and state level that advance these technologies as part of the full suite of clean energy solutions needed to decarbonize the global economy and address climate change.

Press Contact

Troy Shaheen, Communications Director, U.S., [email protected], +1 845-750-1189

About Clean Air Task Force 

Clean Air Task Force (CATF) is a nonprofit organization working to safeguard against the worst impacts of climate change by catalyzing the rapid global development and deployment of low-carbon energy and other climate-protecting technologies. We work towards these objectives through research and analysis, public advocacy leadership, and partnership with the private sector. With nearly 25 years of nationally and internationally recognized expertise on clean air policy and regulations and a fierce commitment to fully exploring all potential solutions. CATF is headquartered in Boston, with staff working virtually around the U.S. and abroad. 

Originally Appeared Here

WASHINGTON — President Biden and President Lopez Obrador met at the White House yesterday to discuss the urgent need to tackle methane emissions from oil and gas in both countries, issuing a joint statement (Spanish version) that they will work together to develop an implementation plan to eliminate all routine flaring and venting from their respective oil and gas sectors.  

 “This is an encouraging display of North American leadership on methane, with two of the region’s largest oil and gas-producing economies publicly announcing ambitions to slash methane emissions and wasteful flaring,” said Jonathan Banks, Global Director, Super Pollutants at Clean Air Task Force. “Mexico and the U.S. have a long history of collaboration and partnership when it comes to methane from the oil and gas sector.  The commitments from Presidents Lopez-Obrador and Biden show a strong continuation of that collaboration. Moving from plans to action will be critical if we are to begin to bend the curve on climate change.” 

The U.S. and Mexico are two of the more than 115 signatories of the Global Methane Pledge, which commits countries to collectively reducing their methane emissions 30% by 2030, and this announcement signals a step forward in the implementation phase. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that warms the planet more than 84 times more than carbon dioxide during its first 20 years in the atmosphere. Due to its short-lived nature, cutting methane emissions is one of the best strategies available to immediately slow global warming. Learn more here.  

CATF’s work with Mexico began in 2016 when Canada, Mexico and the U.S. agreed at the North American Leaders Summit to cut Methane pollution by 40-45%. CATF launched a project in Mexico to build technical and legal capacity, as well as policy solutions with a newly formed agency tasked with regulating the oil and gas industry, the Agencia de Seguridad, Energía y Ambiente (ASEA), as well as SEMARNAT, the Environment Ministry, and SENER, the Energy Ministry.  In 2018, ASEA finalized strong regulations to cut methane emissions throughout the oil and gas sector. These standards are in place but implementation of them has been hindered by some of the major roadblocks in the oil and gas system that have led to large amounts of flaring and venting.  The project announced by the U.S. and Mexico will help to overcome those barriers through technical collaboration and making the necessary finance available to fully implement the reductions. 

Press Contact

Troy Shaheen, Communications Director, U.S., [email protected], +1 845-750-1189

About Clean Air Task Force 

Clean Air Task Force (CATF) is a nonprofit organization working to safeguard against the worst impacts of climate change by catalyzing the rapid global development and deployment of low-carbon energy and other climate-protecting technologies. We work towards these objectives through research and analysis, public advocacy leadership, and partnership with the private sector. With nearly 25 years of nationally and internationally recognized expertise on clean air policy and regulations and a fierce commitment to fully exploring all potential solutions. CATF is headquartered in Boston, with staff working virtually around the U.S. and abroad. 

Originally Appeared Here

Armond Cohen

Last month, effective altruist and climate philanthropy expert Johannes Ackva of Founders Pledge sat down with climate and energy journalist David Roberts to discuss the principles of effective altruism and the way they can be applied to climate action on the podcast Volts. Ackva and Roberts had an enlightening discussion that we highly recommend listening to (full episode here), touching on what makes for effective philanthropic giving in the climate space, which approaches and organizations Ackva recommends, and how effective altruism principles can be applied to climate action. The conversation captured some important ideas that align with Clean Air Task Force’s approach to climate action — and that can help others think about how they can make the greatest impact in the climate management space. Read on for four key lessons from the episode that climate advocates can apply to their work.   

1. Pursue multiple pathways to reduce risk 
 
In the podcast episode, Ackva explains the importance of planning for a wide variety of outcomes and hedging against risks in an uncertain environment. This includes hedging against the risk that global cooperation on climate policy breaks down, that the political winds in the U.S. or EU change to become less friendly to certain approaches, or that war, pandemics or economic downturns hamper our ability to deploy certain solutions. It’s about planning not just for one scenario, or even the most likely scenario, but instead for all possible scenarios with the largest possible impact. In that vein, he explains that focusing only on renewable energy or only on electrification could expose us to risk, or path dependency — reminding us that we don’t know what will happen in the future, and positing that if we bet all of our money on those pathways and then fail to see them through in a volatile world, it will be too late to go back and invest in alternative pathways by the time we know for sure. Effectively, we must be careful not to put all of our eggs into one basket.  Ackva says:

Robustness here is robustness to uncertainty. There are really large uncertainties that will remain on all relevant timescales — how far technologies will go, how emissions will evolve, etc., what will happen to the Paris Agreement — so part of that is generally choosing a portfolio right now that hedges against the failure of mainstream solutions, out of the logic that damage is much worse when mainstream solutions fail.

Just as a diversified investment portfolio hedges against unforeseen circumstances, Ackva says, so too should climate advocates diversify their portfolio of approaches to hedge against risks and maximize the likelihood of success. This diversification is woven throughout CATF’s approach to decarbonization (and that of an emerging number of U.S. and global organizations) who think nimbly. CATF and its growing number of peer colleagues are unique in that we work to advance a broad set of climate solutions, understanding that the more options we have the less risky our approach is. This also applies tactically, in that CATF doesn’t pursue just one policy or private sector solution — but instead engages on a diverse array of tactical fronts, at multiple levels of government and industry, understanding that this approach reduces path dependency and dead ends, and that it increases our chances of achieving our goals.

2. Pay attention to additionality 
 
A central tenet of effective altruism and a valuable lens through which to approach climate action is additionality — or the extent to which an action sparks an additional change that would not have otherwise occurred. Additionality is what makes the first or second of something more valuable than the 10th or 11th. Adding a wind energy project, for example, to the grid in a heavily oil and gas reliant state with few policy incentives promoting clean energy has a far greater climate impact than adding one in a state with a strong clean energy standard and an already healthy clean energy economy (something CATF has explored in its advocacy for 24/7 clean electricity procurement). Similarly, advocating for policy support for under-supported climate solutions like carbon capture, hydrogen, nuclear energy, and superhot rock energy has more value at the margin than advocating for incentives for solutions that already receive substantial government support and are commercially mature. 
 
To apply this principle to philanthropic giving, Ackva reasons that funding a climate advocacy organization that is adding to a chorus of similar voices saying similar things is less valuable than funding those that highlight the importance of something critical but so-far neglected. This principle, in part, has led Founders Pledge to support CATF and other organizations like Carbon 180, TerraPraxis, Future CleanTech Architects, and the Economics of Energy Innovation and System Transition — whose work stands apart from a narrower approach held by most green groups and pushes for innovative solutions that could be critical game-changers, but that have not yet achieved widespread support.

Referring to one of CATF’s signature projects, Ackva notes:

For superhot rock geothermal, it’s quite literally about putting this idea on the map, building the coalitions of government, getting innovation funding for this, connecting the different industries, research labs, etc., connecting this to people who could implement it. This is very early stuff with really outsize impact potentially.

3. Focus on potential impact 
 
Ackva also touches on the importance of investing climate funding where it can have the largest impact, including by focusing on sectors and regions of the world that are predicted to have the highest emissions in the years to come. He points out that, while the vast majority of climate funding goes to advocacy in the U.S. and EU, those geographies will only account for 15% of the world’s emissions by 2050 — with the growing and industrializing economies of the Global South accounting for the vast majority of future emissions. Investing early in solutions to decarbonize those economies while meeting their growing energy demands is critical to global climate action, a concept CATF is acting on through our Energy and Climate Innovation, Africa program.  Ackva says:

85% of future emissions come from regions that are growing really strongly right now and are making a lot of infrastructure decisions about how to build grids, how to build new coal plants or not. These decisions will have consequences for decades and through the future, so they present really high leverage points for intervention, yet there’s very little attention paid to them.

Additionality applies here as well. As Ackva and Roberts note in the episode, the millionth dollar donated to climate advocacy in the U.S. is perhaps less important than the first or fifth or one hundredth dollar donated to support climate action in an emerging economy whose emissions will soon make up a substantial portion of the global total. 

4. Prioritize policy change over individual action 
 
Ackva and Roberts discuss a key finding of a Founders Pledge report on climate philanthropy, which is that a donation to an effective organization that advocates to advance climate policy is many times more impactful than any individual action someone can take. The report states: “We firmly believe that — on balance — funding advocacy and similar efforts to induce policy change and affect how societal resources are spent provides the most compelling proposition for impact-oriented philanthropists.” This is an important finding to remember as people all over the world work to understand how they can do their part to combat climate change. We must shift the frame from an excessive focus on how one can limit their own individual footprint (as useful as this may be to maintain emotional commitment to climate protection), to how they can effect change that matches the scope and scale of the climate challenge. Policy change is one of the biggest levers we can pull to address climate change, which is why CATF and its peer organizations are so active in the policy space around the world.  

Whether you’re a philanthropist, a professional climate advocate, or simply someone interested in understanding how to make the biggest difference, these four lessons can help guide you toward more effective action. At CATF, we have been operating on these principles for 25 years, and constantly revisit them to help direct us toward strategies and programs that have the greatest marginal impact rather than trodding well covered space. This explains why we were among the first, and in some cases the very first, to start initiatives on U.S. coal plants, methane management, dirty diesel pollution, carbon capture, advanced nuclear, zero-carbon fuels, fusion energy, 24/7/365 clean energy procurement, and superhot rock geothermal energy. And it is because of the network of partners, donors and supporters that we continue to lead with impact now and into the future. 

Originally Appeared Here

BRUSSELS – Yesterday, the EU Innovation Fund announced its second round of large scale projects, with an additional four carbon capture and storage and three hydrogen projects getting funding. 

“This kind of funding helps to unlock the kind of economy-wide decarbonisation that is needed to achieve higher climate ambition,” said Lee Beck, Global Director, Carbon Capture. “Now, policymakers need to develop deployment policy with a European Strategy for carbon capture and storage to demonstrate political commitment to commercialising these technologies and infrastructure.” 

This latest announcement followed the second round of projects that was released in November 2021. In that round, over €1 billion was also awarded to projects with focus on industrial decarbonisation. 

One notable trend in the projects funded is the push for innovative industrial decarbonisation technologies spreading beyond the first mover countries around the North Sea.  

The momentum and growing ambition behind carbon capture and storage technologies is particularly notable, as the four carbon capture projects selected make use of a wide variety of transport options – including ship, rail, and pipelines – for moving the captured carbon dioxide. This shows the importance of EU-wide carbon dioxide transport networks, connecting emitters who capture their carbon dioxide to permanent storage facilities and allowing industrial actors across the continent to work towards climate targets. 

“The sectors included in this announcement have long been overlooked, in Europe and around the world,” said Magnolia Tovar, Global Director, Zero-Carbon Fuels. “Decarbonising the energy-intensive industries that have made limited emissions reductions since 2010 is vital not only for Europe, but for economies around the world.”  

The three hydrogen projects chosen in the Netherlands show a growing commitment to backing hubs of heavy industry as engines of climate innovation – places where the production, end-use, and connective infrastructure for hydrogen are tightly packed and highly integrated. It is these hydrogen hubs that stand the best chance of creating a new zero-carbon fuels economy that can displace the dominance of fossil fuels in difficult-to-electrify sectors. 

Nonetheless, it is clear that some elements are still being overlooked. The relative shortage of funding for carbon dioxide storage sites is particularly worrying. To put it plainly, without timely access to permanent storage sites, many of the planned carbon capture projects will be unable to progress on schedule. Analysis from earlier this year already showed that, by 2030, the available storage capacity will amount to around half the volume of captured CO2 – and that was based on the projects that had already been announced. While the support for a new storage site in Iceland is welcome, the EU must do more to bridge this gap. 

This round of funding shows that the trend towards embracing carbon capture technologies is growing, but these efforts have stalled in the past through a lack of inadequate regulatory incentives, the need to coordinate on shared CO2 infrastructure, and lack of deployment policy such as carbon contracts for differences that support CAPEX and OPEX. Brussels must implement a comprehensive carbon capture policy framework to ensure that these early projects are set up to succeed, helping to commercialise these crucial decarbonisation tools for countries around the world. 

Selected projects worth highlighting: 

• The ANRAV CCUS cluster in Bulgaria is set to be the first full-chain carbon capture and storage project in Eastern Europe, capturing CO2 from a cement plant to store in depleted gas fields in the Black Sea. This project also has links to Romania and Greece. 
• The GO4ECOPLANET project in Poland shows further commitment to the region. CO2 will be captured at the Kujawy cement plant, transported by rail and shipped to offshore storage sites. 
• The ELYgator project in the Netherlands will demonstrate an integrated hydrogen value chain. This project will produce 15,500 tonnes per of renewable hydrogen for the industry and mobility.      
• The CalCC project in France would be the world’s first industrial scale carbon capture project involving lime production, sending CO2 by pipeline to the industrial hub and export terminal at Dunkirk. 
• Coda Terminal in Iceland will establish a CO2 import terminal and storage site, in an expansion of the existing Carbfix project based on mineralisation of CO2 in basalt rock. 

Press Contact 

Rowan Emslie, Communications Director, EU, [email protected], +32 476-97-36-42 

About Clean Air Task Force 

Clean Air Task Force (CATF) is a nonprofit organization working to safeguard against the worst impacts of climate change by catalyzing the rapid global development and deployment of low-carbon energy and other climate-protecting technologies. We work towards these objectives through research and analysis, public advocacy leadership, and partnership with the private sector. With nearly 25 years of nationally and internationally recognized expertise on clean air policy and regulations and a fierce commitment to fully exploring all potential solutions. CATF is headquartered in Boston, with staff working virtually around the U.S. and abroad. 

Originally Appeared Here

Bruce Hill

While the decarbonization debate rages on, the seeds of a quiet geothermal energy revolution are being sown. As described in our October 2021 report, superhot rock energy holds the potential to tap into earth’s inexhaustible heat resources to generate widely available, affordable, energy dense, zero-carbon, firm power and hydrogen at scale — energy resources sorely needed to address climate change and energy security. 

Today, conventional geothermal power production capacity sits at a mere 15 gigawatts (2018) globally, the equivalent of just 15 large power plants! One of the major reasons for this limited capacity is that we can currently only deploy conventional geothermal in global regions that allow tapping into natural steam from shallow magmatic heat which turns out to be a very small sliver of the planet. Because of this, geothermal has been overlooked, effectively invisible as a decarbonization solution and written off as a niche energy resource only available where the Earth’s crust is thin and heat is near-surface — typically where there has been volcanic-related activity in the past thousands of years.   

To expand geothermal energy production and redefine it as a viable high-energy resource across the planet, heat must typically be harnessed from greater depths, where rock is extremely hot. To do this, geothermal systems need to be engineered in otherwise dry rock — without natural steam — to emulate conventional natural steam-driven hydrothermal systems. This is done by injecting water into natural rock fractures — or possibly closed loop systems (water remains in a loop of subsurface tubing) — where the injected water is heated and returned to the surface for energy production (see graphic below). These “Engineered Geothermal Systems” (EGS) were first investigated at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the 1970s. Today’s EGS research and development efforts target moderate geologic temperatures in the range of 150-300 degrees Celsius. EGS systems have yet to be fully demonstrated and commercialized, largely because needed investments in engineering have yet to be made that can transform them into scalable, affordable energy sources. Superhot rock energy has the potential to be an even hotter and deeper extension of EGS, targeting temperatures in the range of 400-450 degrees Celsius but carrying up to ten times the amount of energy to the surface as a lower temperature conventional well or of an expected EGS well. This order-of-magnitude higher energy delivered per well, means fewer wells required for a commercial power facility, and more revenue to offset deeper drilling and well construction costs, to make superhot rock plants economically competitive.  

How it works. SHR will utilize injection and production wells in fractured (left) or closed-loop (right) systems to bring  5-10X the heat of a conventional geothermal well to the surface. (Note: The use of a closed loop system may have a lower relative power production potential than a fractured system — both options should be supported until the optimal method is determined.) 

The opportunities and value proposition for superhot rock energy are impressive for the following reasons:  

• The Earth’s inexhaustible heat is already available beneath our feet, worldwide — which means this energy resource could be accessed across the world via innovative super-deep drilling technologies. 
• Superhot rock energy power plants would be energy dense, occupying only a small surface footprint with a high energy output. It would access hot rock layers with kilometers-thick of potential reservoir rock (compared, for example, with tens of meters of reservoir typically in oil and gas). This gives superhot rock energy the potential to provide virtually limitless, firm power and, at the same time, increase energy security across regions. 
• Superhot rock’s electricity and high temperatures could be tapped to produce hydrogen through high temperature electrolysis, a zero-carbon fuel that could be critical to decarbonizing the hard-to-electrify portions of the transportation sector and other sectors. 
• Superhot rock energy has the potential to repurpose existing fossil plants by replacing their coal, oil, or gas combustion systems with superhot steam to run their power-generating turbines. 

Superhot rock energy’s value proposition

Currently, about 30 superhot rock energy wells reaching superhot conditions above 400 degrees Celsius have been drilled around the world, all in volcanic geothermal areas — but power has yet to be produced from superhot hydrothermal (natural geologic water) resources.  

So, what are the barriers that prevent us from tapping this energy resource today?

Producing power at the extremely high temperatures and expected depths for superhot rock systems currently poses engineering challenges that will require the kinds of rapid innovation that sped production of oil and gas from shale in just a decade in the 2000s. Such innovations for extreme subsurface conditions will include drilling, well construction (metals and cements), downhole geophysical probes designed for identifying permeable or fractured zones specifically in hard rock, heat reservoir development methods avoiding earthquake risk, and surface power production facilities with special turbines to generate electricity from the superhot/supercritical steam. Indeed, progress has been made over the past decade that will help meet some of these challenges: 

• Site Selection (and permitting): Rigorous regulations and permitting must be developed in advance of commercialization which identify only the highest value, safest places for siting projects, accompanied by requirements for drilling, casing, operations, and subsurface monitoring similar to regulations for geologic CO2 storage in the U.S. Underground Injection Control Rule Class VI program. CATF intends to help spearhead efforts to develop the regulatory measures needed for safe and effective project development and operations. 
• Advanced Drilling: Companies in the U.S., Slovakia, and China have been investigating and testing new forms of non-mechanical energy drilling that could provide for rapid drilling in extremely deep, hot environments. Two examples of these novel drilling technologies are GA Drilling’s “Plasmabit” and Quaise’s millimeter wave drill, both designed to soften or melt hard crystalline rock, rather than the direct contact or grinding methods of conventional rotary drill bits. Energy drilling aiming for, not only deeper, but more efficient, faster drilling because the bit will not need to be changed as often — a process that incurs considerable downtime at depth. Rapid, super-deep drilling methods such as these could spread superhot rock energy across the globe, the reason some call superhot rock energy “geothermal everywhere.” In addition, methods for directional drilling in hard rock must be developed to optimally configure and orient wells in the subsurface. 
• Advanced (downhole) Remote Sensing: Critical to the identification of areas of natural fracture permeability are geophysical probes. Many of today’s tools are adapted from low temperature oil and gas in sedimentary rock, a very different geology than in “crystalline” hard rock, i.e., metamorphic and igneous rock. Adaptation of these existing tools and new tools are being developed that can withstand extreme conditions but also provide data useful to identifying potential productive zones for reservoir development. 
• Well Construction: One of the principal reasons for the failure of today’s wells in superhot conditions is the inability of the metals and cement to withstand high temperatures. The geothermal industry has been working to change that, most importantly as part of projects supported by the EU such as DEEPEN. 
• Reservoir Development: One of the key challenges facing superhot rock energy is creation of sub-surface reservoir systems through which water can be injected and heated and returned to the surface safely without creating harmful seismic activity. Methods being considered include identification and use of existing fractures combined with stimulation techniques like hydroshearing which could create self-propped fracture permeability. Thermal shock could also enhance fractures, simply by the injection of cold water into hot rock. Moreover there is evidence that superhot rock actually exists in a more “plastic” state — a less brittle, a geophysical, seismic dead zone. If existing fractures can be stimulated in this zone, reservoir creation may pose little seismic risk, as described below. Reducing risk of induced seismicity is a goal of the U.S. Department of Energy’s FORGE project. Similarly, the EU’s DEEP program has also been endeavoring to address seismic risk in engineered geothermal systems. Three approaches may help superhot rock avoid induced earthquakes. First the Japan Beyond Brittle Project has spearheaded understanding the properties of rocks at high temperatures in what is called the ”brittle-ductile transition” a zone deep in the earth where rock is more malleable and less susceptible to fracture and faulting. Second is identification and use of existing fractured zones in rock. Rather than creating new fractures in deep rock (which may be impossible to do at great depth) existing fractured zones could be dilated without the need for new fracturing. Thirdly, several companies such as Eavor are developing subsurface closed loop geothermal systems that could inject and produce water without any fractures. This technology, which resembles an underground radiator, is being tested today in rocks at much lower temperatures. Finally and importantly, reducing risk will also require codification of site selection and monitoring best practices into regulatory permitting (see below) such that superhot rock projects are not permitted in geologic settings with existing faults and earthquake risk.
• Advanced Surface Facilities: Initial projects will allow the superhot water to expand into steam utilized in today’s commercial plants. But in order to harvest the full energy potential of supercritical/superhot water, high temperature/high pressure turbines will be required. This may be accomplished by adapting supercritical turbines that are already in use at fossil electricity generation units. Injected water is not likely to carry the same potentially disruptive dissolved minerals as natural superhot systems such as those found in Iceland. Nonetheless, water purification may be required to remove silica that could potentially cause corrosion that may affect surface facilities and possibly plug reservoirs. 

Engineering tasks and innovations required for superhot rock energy commercialization.

We need successful proof-of-concept for superhot rock energy and power production demonstrations in the next 5 to 10 years to prove the potential of this technology

One such possible project, Alta Rock Energy’s Newberry project in Oregon, is ready to deepen an existing well from 3,000 meters depth and 330 degrees Celsius to 4,500 meters depth with superhot rock energy conditions greater than 400 degrees Celsius to demonstrate power production. Supplemental funding is an urgent need for this project to move forward and CATF is actively advocating for demonstration project support from the federal government in the U.S.  

In Europe, two Iceland Deep Drilling Project (IDDP) wells were drilled into superhot rock with temperatures above 400 degrees Celsius. Testing of its “Krafla” well suggested a whopping 35 megawatts (MW) of energy output would be available per well — as compared with a typical lower temperature commercial geothermal well producing 3-7 MW.  

While there have been several of these superhot rock drilling efforts around the world completed in the past decade, there is inadequate coordination and no clear roadmap to demonstrate, scale, and commercialize the technology. Moreover, funding for superhot rock projects has been scant and dependent on political winds, thereby relegating the development of this high-energy solution to slow, piecemeal progress. 

CATF’s role and superhot rock energy’s untapped benefits 

Clean Air Task Force has assembled a Superhot Rock Energy team of experts to help drive momentum and build constituency to promote a robust commercialization ecosystem for this innovative new energy technology. We are facilitating a global superhot rock energy roadmap and strategy development: building a constituency, undertaking basic economic modeling, promoting regulatory development for superhot rock projects, and analyzing how superhot rock energy can contribute to decarbonization in the future. We’re working to raise awareness by educating stakeholders, developing networks, facilitating markets, and advocating for government investment in superhot rock demonstrations. Our goal is to accelerate understanding, support, and funding for a half dozen global superhot rock energy demonstration projects over the next decade in order to speed widespread superhot rock power plant construction by 2040. This will mean committing hundreds of millions to billions of dollars over the next decade, funding levels at the same scale as current governmental investments in nuclear energy technologies, hydrogen, and carbon capture.  

Deep decarbonization will require a revolution in clean electricity to replace today’s unabated fossil generation. In order to participate in a global decarbonized economy, fossil energy industries must solidify their commitment to emissions reduction and use their resources, existing infrastructure, sub-surface know-how, and funding capital to support the development and commercialization of this new earth energy source.   

The need to decarbonize our energy system to address climate change is growing more and more urgent. Global energy demand will only increase, and we owe it to future generations to prioritize the development of this firm, always-on, renewable energy source. Superhot rock geothermal is a promising solution that could resolve many of the hardest challenges to addressing climate change. So, what are we waiting for? 

Originally Appeared Here

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court issued its opinion today in West Virginia v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), ruling that the pollution control system EPA employed as the basis for the 2015 Clean Power Plan was outside its authority to regulate emissions from power plants. While the opinion “takes a key tool out of EPA’s regulatory toolbox, it does not by any means block the agency from exercising its authority to limit greenhouse gas emissions” said Jay Duffy, a Clean Air Task Force attorney representing respondents in West Virginia v. EPA. “EPA must act swiftly under its remaining authority to establish stringent emission guidelines for fossil fuel fired power plants.”

The opinion was 6-3 written by Chief Justice Roberts with Justice Kagan writing the dissent. The decision limited a previous ruling in 2011, when the Supreme Court recognized in AEP v. Connecticut that EPA has the authority to determine the best system for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from power plants under the section of the Clean Air Act at issue in West Virginia v. EPA. That authority, the Chief wrote, does not extend to choosing a system based on shifting fossil generation to zero-emitting power sources.  

Duffy, who represented American Lung Association, American Public Health Association, Appalachian Mountain Club, Clean Air Council, Clean Wisconsin, Conservation Law Foundation, and Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy in West Virginia v. EPA, continued: 

“The Clean Power Plan was built on demonstrated state programs to effectively reduce emissions from power plants, and it leveraged the exact means by which the sector would reduce its emissions — shifting generation from higher emitting sources to lower- and zero-emitting sources. In fact, even though the Clean Power Plan never went into effect, by 2019, annual power sector emissions were already lower than its 2030 targets utilizing that same system. Nonetheless, the Court took the industry’s preferred emission reduction measure off the table — instead requiring the agency to rely on pollution control investments within the fossil fuel-fired power fleet to reduce dangerous emissions. The Clean Air Act continues, however, to provide EPA with ample authority to set stringent standards based on pollution control technologies such as carbon scrubbers and gas and hydrogen co-firing, and heat rate improvements. These technologies can significantly reduce emissions and would put the costs of pollution cleanup on industry instead of public health and the environment.”  

“CATF attorneys and our co-counsel have meticulously studied every word written by this Court. With a clear understanding of the shifting legal doctrines, we developed a careful strategy in this case to retain much of the flexibility offered by the Clean Air Act to tailor technology-forcing solutions to evolving pollution problems. Our arguments focused on the most novel piece of the Plan, which was to create a formal crediting role for unregulated sources such as wind and solar and we encouraged the Court to limit its ruling to this issue rather than prohibiting EPA from considering proven emission reductions tools such as emissions averaging or trading, among sources. The Court accepted this pathway and while we also argued that shifting generation to low and zero-emitting sources as the industry has been doing for decades, should be part of the best system of emission reduction in setting the standard for existing sources, we are pleased that the Court did not limit the agency to pollution controls applied ‘to or at an individual source’ — an extreme reading of the Clean Air Act that Petitioners urged.”   

“This opinion does extend the Court’s trend of limiting agency power to address evolving problems pursuant to general directions from Congress. Unless Congress is hyper-specific, this Court seems bent on limiting agencies discretion when they take measures to protect public health, safety, and the environment, under long-standing statutory provisions.” 

“As the climate crisis continues to escalate, we urge EPA to rapidly act use its full remaining authority and expertise to take strong and swift action to press the power sector toward full decarbonization. There are several paths forward based on the scientific and technical measures for control that the Court itself notes should be evaluated, and that remain open, and it’s critical the agency take them now.” 

Press Contact

Troy Shaheen, Communications Director, U.S., [email protected], +1 845-750-1189

About Clean Air Task Force 

Clean Air Task Force (CATF) is a nonprofit organization working to safeguard against the worst impacts of climate change by catalyzing the rapid global development and deployment of low-carbon energy and other climate-protecting technologies. We work towards these objectives through research and analysis, public advocacy leadership, and partnership with the private sector. With nearly 25 years of nationally and internationally recognized expertise on clean air policy and regulations and a fierce commitment to fully exploring all potential solutions. CATF is headquartered in Boston, with staff working virtually around the U.S. and abroad. 

Originally Appeared Here

WASHINGTON — Sarah Smith, Chief of Programs at Clean Air Task Force, will testify this week at a Congressional hearing on the importance of cutting methane emissions from the oil and gas sector, highlighting the urgent need to rapidly reduce methane emissions to immediately slow the rate of global warming while limiting harmful air pollution and creating jobs. 

The United States House of Representatives Select Committee on the Climate Crisis will host the hearing on Friday, June 24th, at 9:00 a.m. ET. Learn more about the hearing and access livestream details here.   

Smith will deliver her remarks as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers strengthening proposed rules to limit methane emissions from U.S. oil and gas sector. Smith will argue that strong final EPA standards that build on the agency’s proposed rules in November 2021 could provide a means of accomplishing the U.S.’s stated methane reduction goals under the Global Methane Pledge, as 75% of methane emissions from oil and gas operations can be avoided with readily available and low-cost technologies. 

Methane is a harmful super pollutant that is more than 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide over its first 20 years in the atmosphere, and is responsible for about half a degree Celsius of the global warming we’ve experienced to date, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Due to its short-lived nature in the atmosphere, reducing methane emissions is the best strategy we have to reduce global warming in the near term.  

Press Contact

Troy Shaheen, Communications Director, U.S., [email protected], +1 845-750-1189

About Clean Air Task Force 

Clean Air Task Force (CATF) is a nonprofit organization working to safeguard against the worst impacts of climate change by catalyzing the rapid global development and deployment of low-carbon energy and other climate-protecting technologies. We work towards these objectives through research and analysis, public advocacy leadership, and partnership with the private sector. With nearly 25 years of nationally and internationally recognized expertise on clean air policy and regulations and a fierce commitment to fully exploring all potential solutions. CATF is headquartered in Boston, with staff working virtually around the U.S. and abroad. 

Originally Appeared Here

WASHINGTON — President Biden announced a series of global initiatives to increase energy security and address climate change at the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate (MEF) today, including efforts to capture fugitive methane emissions and dramatically cut natural gas flaring under the Global Methane Pledge, advance critical clean energy technologies like carbon capture, hydrogen, and advanced nuclear, decarbonize transportation and marine shipping, and improve food security through agricultural advancements. 

“The daily headlines portray a fractured world, with economic headwinds and climate backsliding as the world scrambles for more energy,” said Armond Cohen, President at Clean Air Task Force. “The strategy announced today by the Biden administration at the Major Economies Forum charts a bold course to tackle the near-term energy crisis, while championing the long term strategy needed to decarbonize our energy system. We need a diversified strategy that increases our chances of energy security and climate success through rapid greenhouse gas emission reductions, especially methane emissions, while catalyzing the commercialization of a full suite of carbon free technologies. We’re pleased to support that strategy and we encourage aligned action from all governments in the lead-up to the Clean Energy Ministerial in Pittsburgh and COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh.”

1. Global Methane Pledge Energy Pathway 

The United States and the European Union, along with eleven other country partners, announced the launch of the Global Methane Pledge Energy Pathway to advance the capture of methane emissions in the oil and gas sector and eliminate routine flaring by no later than 2030. The announcement builds on the findings of a new report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), which estimates that a concerted global effort to limit flaring and methane emissions could provide nearly 210 billion cubic meters of additional natural gas to markets and avoid roughly 0.1 degree Celsius of warming, which would be equal to removing every car, truck, bus and motorcycle from the road globally.    

Argentina, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Italy, and Oman joined the United States and the European Union as inaugural members of the Energy Pathway. The U.S. also welcomed the recent additions of Egypt, Kosovo, Moldova, Oman, Qatar, Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uzbekistan, to the Global Methane Pledge, which now includes more than 120 countries collectively committed to cutting their methane emissions 30% by 2030 — representing half of global methane emissions and nearly three-quarters of the global economy. 

Countries and supporting organizations announced nearly $60 million in dedicated funding to support implementation of the Pathway. Additionally, major global gas producers including the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Egypt, Israel, and the EU announced initiatives and regulations to improve monitoring, reduce the wasteful flaring and venting of gas, curb methane emissions from gas pipeline systems, and replace unsafe and leaking gas distribution pipelines. 

“Cutting global methane emissions and flaring can help alleviate the energy crisis the world is facing while delivering a major win on climate change,” said Jonathan Banks, Global Director, Super Pollutants. “This isn’t rocket science, it’s basic plumbing. We have the technologies and practices to slash methane emissions today by 75%. The initiatives announced today, and the growth of the Global Methane Pledge, are signs of the continued momentum to cut methane pollution. It’s incumbent upon all of us to now turn this momentum into action that can serve as a win for energy security and climate.” 

2. Clean Energy Technologies Demonstration Challenge 

President Biden encouraged countries to join the United States to reach a global goal of $90 billion in public investment in large-scale clean energy technology demonstration projects, as recommended in the IEA’s Net Zero by 2050 Roadmap. Biden specifically highlighted the importance of investment in low-emissions hydrogen, carbon capture, carbon dioxide removal, and advanced nuclear energy. This effort builds on the investment and demand signals sent by First Movers Coalition, launched by the U.S. in 2021. 

“75% of emissions reductions on the path to net-zero emissions are predicted to come from technologies that are not yet available at commercial scale,” said Lee Beck, Global Director, Carbon Capture. “That means we must do all we can to rapidly advance the demonstration and deployment of a full suite of technologies that increase our chances of success — including carbon capture, low-emissions hydrogen, and advanced nuclear energy. We’re pleased to see President Biden highlight this crucial component of global climate action efforts and encourage world governments to take him up on this challenge and usher in a new era of clean energy demonstration.” 

3. Collective 2030 Zero-Emission Vehicle Goal and Green Shipping Challenge  

President Biden also invited MEF participants to join the U.S. in its collective goal to expand zero-emissions vehicles to 50% of all new light-duty vehicle sales in 2030 — including battery electric, fuel cell electric, and plug-in hybrid vehicles — emphasizing the additional benefits of insulation from oil price volatility and reductions air pollutants harmful to human health. The United States and Norway additionally announced the launch of a Green Shipping Challenge, encouraging all stakeholders in the shipping value chain to announce specific actions and concrete steps at COP27 that will put the international shipping sector on a credible pathway toward full decarbonization by midcentury.  

“The transportation sector, including marine shipping, accounts for 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and it is going to take a combination of electrification and zero-carbon fuels like hydrogen and ammonia to decarbonize it,” said Emily Kent, Policy Manager, Zero-Carbon Fuels. “We commend President Biden’s efforts to rapidly decarbonize transportation through global collaboration and are particularly looking forward to seeing specific steps at COP27 for putting hard-to-abate segments of heavy transportation like marine shipping on a path to full decarbonization by 2050.” 

4. Global Fertilizer Challenge 

Lastly, President Biden announced the launch of the Global Fertilizer Challenge to support innovative research, demonstrations, and training to help countries with high fertilizer usage and loss adopt efficient nutrient management and alternative fertilizers and cropping systems. The challenge aims to raise $100 million in new funding by COP 27.   

The President highlighted the necessity of food system resilience in the face of climate change and geopolitical instability, and the potential of sustainable fertilizer production and techniques to improve fertilizer use efficiency to reduce natural gas dependence, lower nitrous oxide emissions, increase fertilizer access, and reduce food insecurity globally. 

“Agriculture is responsible for 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions and is the largest emissions source in 24 countries. Feeding a growing global population while reducing emissions from the agriculture sector is a major global challenge,” said Kathy Fallon, Director of Land & Climate. “Intensifying food production while reducing energy-intensive inputs, like fertilizer, is an important step in the right direction.” 

Press Contacts 

Troy Shaheen, Communications Director, U.S., [email protected], +1 845-750-1189 

Rowan Emslie, Communications Director, Europe, Clean Air Task Force, [email protected],  +32 476 97 36 42 

About Clean Air Task Force 

Clean Air Task Force (CATF) is a nonprofit organization working to safeguard against the worst impacts of climate change by catalyzing the rapid global development and deployment of low-carbon energy and other climate-protecting technologies. We work towards these objectives through research and analysis, public advocacy leadership, and partnership with the private sector. With nearly 25 years of nationally and internationally recognized expertise on clean air policy and regulations and a fierce commitment to fully exploring all potential solutions. CATF is headquartered in Boston, with staff working virtually around the U.S. and abroad. 

Originally Appeared Here

LOS ANGELES — Governments across the Americas showcased their leadership on methane today at a convening at the Summit of the Americas, “sending an important signal that the Americas are committed to tackling climate change and ready to pull one of the best levers we have to reduce global warming now,” according to Jonathan Banks, Global Director, Super Pollutants at Clean Air Task Force. 

The convening, hosted by the Global Methane Hub, featured remarks and announcements from U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, California Governor Gavin Newsom, Global Methane Hub CEO Marcelo Mena, and ministers of the environment from Argentina, Barbados, Canada, and Uruguay. 

Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry speaks at the Global Methane Hub’s Summit of the Americas convening.

At the event, the Global Methane Hub welcomed Trinidad and Tobago and Saint Lucia as new signatories to the Global Methane Pledge, bringing the total to more than 115 countries committed to collectively cut their methane emissions 30% by 2030. 

Banks continued: “Cutting methane emissions is the best strategy we have to reduce global warming in the near term and avoid passing irreversible climate tipping points, which is why convenings like this from the Global Methane Hub are so important. Clean Air Task Force is pleased to see governments across the Americas showcase their ambition under the Global Methane Pledge at the Summit of the Americas, and we look forward to supporting them as they turn that ambition into action. Nearly every country in the Americas has now shown their support for the pledge, demonstrating the region’s commitment to tackling the climate crisis and seizing the opportunity to secure a near term climate win through methane mitigation.” 

Clean Air Task Force has worked across the Americas, oftentimes directly with governments, to devise and implement action plans to reduce methane emissions. Most recently, the CATF team supported Colombia in becoming the first South American country to regulate methane emissions from its oil and gas sector, using CATF’s CoMAT (Country Methane Abatement Tool) to help Colombia estimate its methane emissions and to identify policy options to reduce them. CATF has also worked closely with Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. to develop and implement methane mitigation policies, and is currently working closely with Ecuador to do the same. 

Methane — primarily emitted from the oil and gas, waste, and agriculture sectors — is a harmful super pollutant that warms the planet 80 times more than carbon dioxide over its first 20 years in the atmosphere. It’s responsible for about half a degree Celsius of global warming to date, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).   

Press Contact

Troy Shaheen, Communications Director, U.S., Clean Air Task Force, [email protected], +1 845-750-1189

About Clean Air Task Force

Clean Air Task Force (CATF) is a global nonprofit organization working to safeguard against the worst impacts of climate change by catalyzing the rapid development and deployment of low-carbon energy and other climate-protecting technologies. With 25 years of internationally recognized expertise on climate policy and a fierce commitment to exploring all potential solutions, CATF is a pragmatic, non-ideological advocacy group with the bold ideas needed to address climate change. CATF has offices in Boston, Washington D.C., and Brussels, with staff working virtually around the world.  

Originally Appeared Here