Category: Integrated CCUS Initiative

First-of-its kind project in Colorado will bury 350,000 tons of planet-warming carbon that would have been released into the air 5/12/2022

First-of-its kind project in Colorado will bury 350,000 tons of planet-warming carbon that would have been released into the air

Payne Institute Program Manager Anna Littlefield contributed to this article about how the Colorado company Carbon America announced what it says will be the state’s first commercial-scale projects to capture and store carbon dioxide — the harmful and long-lasting greenhouse gas — before it’s released into the air.  Carbon America will build and operate a new system that siphons off carbon dioxide produced at the Sterling and Yuma ethanol plants in northeastern Colorado. The gas will then be pumped through pipelines and stored in a saline aquifer almost a mile underground.  May 13, 2022.

 

Fostering Effective Energy Transition 2022 5/11/2022

Fostering Effective Energy Transition 2022

Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian contributed to this World Economic Forum report on how the global energy transition builds on the trends from the Energy Transition Index to provide perspective on the current challenges and recommendations on how to navigate the transition through a turbulent macroeconomic and geopolitical environment. A series of compounded shocks pose short-term risks to energy affordability, sustainability, and energy security. However, the window to prevent the worst consequences of climate change is closing fast.  May 11, 2022.

Colorado clean energy policy landscape: A case study 3/11/2022

Colorado clean energy policy landscape: A case study

Eliza Hotchkiss, Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian, William Toor, and Keith Hay write about how for decades, countries, states, and municipalities have established energy policies to address local air pollution and global climate change goals. The thousands of policies and measures enacted globally take various forms but are aimed at different sectors of the economy. These policies are the result of a complicated process of analysis, budgeting, management, and politics.  This paper provides an overview of the recent legislative sessions, and how the policies enacted support the Colorado Climate Change Roadmap.  March 11, 2022.

Projects to Capture Carbon Emissions Get New Boost Despite Dismal Record 2/7/2022

Projects to Capture Carbon Emissions Get New Boost Despite Dismal Record

Payne Institute Global Energy Future Initiative Director John Bradford contributes to this article about how carbon-capture projects are attracting renewed attention from investors and governments world-wide as concerns mount about the greenhouse-gas emissions linked to climate change. But the initiatives have a dismal record. February 7, 2022.

Crediting emissions saved in plugging oil and gas wells 1/26/2022

Crediting emissions saved in plugging oil and gas wells

Payne Institute Research Associate Brad Handler and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how avoided emissions could be credited as carbon offsets and sold on exchanges. Funds totalling $21bn have been allocated in the US’ recently passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to clean up former industrial and energy sites, including properly retiring some of the estimated 2mn of unplugged abandoned oil and gas (O&G) wells in the US. Those funds can be stretched further if the avoided methane is credited as carbon offsets and sold on carbon exchanges.  January 26, 2022.  

Colorado could stuff its CO2 deep in the ground to slow climate change 11/26/2021

Colorado could stuff its CO2 deep in the ground to slow climate change

Payne Institute Program Manager Laura Singer contributes to this article about how carbon sequestration may be a small piece of the greenhouse puzzle now, but underground sites show promise for cooling the planet’s future. Colorado has tasked the oil and gas companies with plugging methane leaks in pipelines and capping carbon-weeping abandoned wells.  November 26, 2021.

Colorado Carbon Capture, Utilization and Sequestration Task Force to host virtual public engagement session 10/29/2021

Colorado Carbon Capture, Utilization and Sequestration Task Force to host virtual public engagement session

Payne Institute Program Manager Laura Singer is hosting a virtual public engagement session on November 3 to review draft recommendations that address the role carbon capture could have in meeting Colorado’s climate goals.  Launched in March, the CCUS Task Force comprises members that represent government, industry, academic and nonprofit groups in Colorado. The group is developing a list of recommendations that include an inventory of existing carbon capture initiatives and a literature review as well as opportunities, resources, issues to consider and environmental justice impacts. Public input is a critical component of the recommendations development process.  October 29, 2021.  

CCUS gains momentum despite midstream challenges 10/6/2021

CCUS gains momentum despite midstream challenges

Payne Institute Communications Associate Brooke Bowser, Program Manager Laura Singer, and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) technology has again become popular in discussions on how to combat climate change, but the associated midstream infrastructure necessary to support an energy transition remains underdeveloped and often overlooked.  October 6, 2021.

Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage: What it is and Why it’s Part of a Comprehensive Climate Solution 9/13/2021

Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage: What it is and Why it’s Part of a Comprehensive Climate Solution

Payne Institute Senior Research Associate and Research Assistant Professor Greer Gosnell and Program Manager Laura Singer write about how emphasis on carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) remains alive and well, thanks to rare bipartisan support for the technology that hopes to save millions of jobs in the industrial sector—which is responsible for 25% of U.S. emissions—and hard-to-abate sectors such as aviation and shipping.  September 13, 2021.