Seeing the Round Corners

HEADS UP, the new day for Seeing the Round Corners “GOING LIVE” is Tuesday each week.

August 17, 2021

CARBON CAPTURE, USE AND STORAGE

This writer by no means pretends to be qualified as an expert on Carbon Capture, Use and Storage (CCUS), but brings this commentary to print in hopes of getting the American public to ask hard, tough questions of their state officials when they start “shoving” the 100% renewable energy idea down the throats of you the public as though it is a simple thing to do. Dare this writer remind the American public about Ethanol – the corn-based gasoline that still after how many decades cannot survive without massive government subsidies!!

Today’s subject, CCUS, is one of the prime, if not most significant of the widely discussed climate change – ask five, ten, ever how many “experts” and you will get that many different expert opinions.

Bear in mind, there are drawbacks to the yes/no of CCUS, but this column is a brief description of what it is to give the reader just how monumental an undertaking it is. Readers must realize, it cannot be accomplished just because someone puts a deadline of 2040 on the calendar. Also mentioned are some other innovative ideas not likely heard of in the obsessive coverage of renewable energy and big tech. Here are a few for future discussion.

specially fabricated, close tolerance stainless steel tubing to contain laser beams in a vacuum at the Hanford Observatory in Richland, Washington;
the Z machine, the world’s most powerful electrical device, is a pulsed power accelerator able to create x-ray power for short periods of time, recently updated; and
an “inside out” or “reverse” boiler system at Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in the Mojave Desert – concentric circles of mirrors called “helio-stats” that reflect sunlight boiler tube walls, heating them to about 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit to create superheated steam, part of a system that recovers water from spent steam.

These unique contributions to America’s industry have received very little if any recognition or publicity.
Renewable energy has long been a hot topic here in Colorado, with each new governor adamant that the state can be totally reliant on it by a certain date in the future. Colorado’s present Governor ran on a campaign that by 2040, Colorado’s electricity would be provided by 100% renewable energy – that’s nineteen short years away!! Is that realistic?
Well, point is the world has never done it before or tried it, and most people cannot comprehend or even begin to recognize how much electricity would have to be produced for Colorado to be totally fueled by renewable energy.
Carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS) is a very complicated process and cannot be described in a sentence or two. Very few people have any idea how carbon capture technology works, but it actually has been in use in North America (the U. S. and Canada) since the 1970s at various industrial projects, and has only recently become a part of the application to power generation. That idea is where problems may become the biggest hurdle to overcome due to the amount necessary to replace fuel for power generation.
CCUS at-a-glance (as provided by the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions):

CCUS technologies can capture more than 90 percent of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from power plants and industrial facilities;
Captured carbon dioxide can be put to productive use in enhanced oil recovery and the manufacture of fuels, building materials and more, or be stored in underground geologic formations;
Twenty-six commercial-scale carbon capture projects are operating around the world with 21 more in early development and 13 in advanced development reaching front end engineering design (FEED); and
Carbon capture can achieve 14 percent of the global greenhouse gas emissions reductions needed by 2050, and is viewed as the only practical way to achieve deep decarbonization in the industrial sector.

Next week, a more detailed chronology of the Carbon Capture, Use and Storage.
The reader’s comments or questions are always welcome. E-mail me at doris@dorisbea ver.com. The mission of Seeing the Round Corners is to evoke a thought process and interest in becoming better informed and to be skeptical of the headline-grabbing purveyors of information. The writer is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.

The reader's comments or questions are always welcome. E-mail me at doris@dorisbeaver.com.