National Grid Plc is investigating piping greenhouse gases released by power plants and refineries near London to undersea storage sites so they won’t add to global warming.
The manager of Britain’s natural gas-delivery network found the Thames Estuary could be used for pipelines to move carbon-dioxide gas toward depleted offshore wells, Network Operations director Chris Train said. In the north, the Teesside industrial hub is also being considered.
The US and Europe together have earmarked as much as US$14 billion in aid to develop technology to trap and bury the waste gas for eons, which in the London area may benefit utilities E.ON AG and RWE AG and refinery operator Petroplus Holding AG.
Pilot projects have developed slowly because of potential gas-transport costs. London-based National Grid is expanding its range of possible routes beyond Scotland and Humberside, banking on government support and its own unique position of already operating 7,400km of gas pipelines in Britain.
A carbon-capture system might help the government as well as industrial polluters to meet international greenhouse-gas agreements without having to buy emissions permits from traders.
The Thames river area near the country’s financial capital is home to large producers of greenhouse gases.
Train declined to name companies National Grid had spoken with about the plans beyond saying “we are talking with parties in both those areas” of England. “It’s pretty embryonic at this stage.”
Carbon capture and storage, commonly called CCS, will contribute a maximum of 10 percent of emission reductions needed globally in 2020 under expected greenhouse-gas trading programs, or 240 million tonnes of gas, New Carbon Finance, a London-based research company, estimated last month.
“The role of CCS will only be minor given the relative high cost of doing CCS projects prior to 2020,” said Milo Sjardin, an analyst in New York for the firm.
The rest of the reductions would come from increased fuel efficiency at factories, fuel switching and other abatement efforts, he said.
National Grid, which earns a regulated rate of return on its energy networks, is an “ideal” candidate to move the gas around Britain, provided the government sets rules that enable companies to make money by helping bury carbon dioxide, Train said.
“One of the barriers for the development of carbon capture to date is having the right incentive framework in place,” he said.
While National Grid’s focus is land-based pipes, “if it meant developing a project, we wouldn’t shy away from doing the offshore” leg of the transportation too, Train said.
The company is vying to control the transportation side of the unproven technology, which the International Energy Agency has said will be vital to meet the UN’s goal of cutting greenhouse-gas output by 50 percent by mid-century.
TURNAROUND: The Liberal Party had trailed the Conservatives by a wide margin, but that was before Trump threatened to make Canada the US’ 51st state Canada’s ruling Liberals, who a few weeks ago looked certain to lose an election this year, are mounting a major comeback amid the threat of US tariffs and are tied with their rival Conservatives, according to three new polls. An Ipsos survey released late on Tuesday showed that the left-leaning Liberals have 38 percent public support and the official opposition center-right Conservatives have 36 percent. The Liberals have overturned a 26-point deficit in six weeks, and run advertisements comparing the Conservative leader to Trump. The Conservative strategy had long been to attack unpopular Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but last month he
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
RSS