At the risk of making him a target for criticism, the electric power  industry has a friend in Jim Markowsky, Assistant Secretary of Energy for Fossil Energy and formerly of AEP.  As Wayne Barber of SNL reported recently, Markowsky told the National Coal Council the Administration might relax the New Source Review standards for coal fired power plants in situations where doing so could increase plant efficiency and produce lower overall CO2 emissions.

How logical!

Back in 2005, when I was president at Global Energy Advisors we did a study of the changes in performance at power plants, mostly coal plants and nuclear plants, that were divested by investor owned utilities who believed these old ‘dogs’ could not perform as well as newer, cleaner gas fired combined cycle generation.  A funny thing happened when the new owners moved in, they fixed up the place and both the nukes and the coal plants turned from dogs to ‘gems’ with dramatic improvement in both capacity factors and performance.  The result was lower costs, lower emissions and better revenue for the merchant generator owners.

Back then only about one-third of coal plants had scrubbers.  Today about half the fleet has SO2 scrubbers and that investment may be the trigger for relaxing the NSR standards by USEPA.  Markowsky said that increasing the efficiency at existing coal plants by 2% would lower CO2 emissions by about 5% mostly from burning less coal.

New Source Gotcha!

New Source Review, NSR, was added to the Clean Air Act to force utilities to go through an onerous environmental permitting process before they could make improvements at existing coal plants.  New source review was a tactic by Northeastern states concerned about acid rain to force the Midwest utilities especially American Electric Power to clean up their emissions from their coal plants.   The goal was to discourage re-investment in coal especially where SO2 emissions were problems.

Competition will Reduce Emissions Faster and Cheaper

The problem with NSR is that it actually discouraged cleaning up older plants even though the evidence suggested that wholesale power generation competition in the late 1990’s turned these tactics on their head.  Instead of complaining about coal fired generation from the Midwest, the northeastern states clamored to gain access to that same lower cost power when the PJM and MISO markets more effectively integrated.  The work we did at Global Energy Decisions analyzing this transformation in the report “Putting Wholesale Competition to the Test”[1] clearly showed that older coal plants, even the worst performers, could be turned into much cleaner, much more efficient and much more profitable power generators with such investments.

“Competitive market forces have changed the way existing power plants are operated, producing substantial improvements in efficiency and cost savings,” we said in the 2005 study which could the following efficiency gains:

• 14% lower coal plant operating & maintenance costs;
• 16% improvement in coal plant capacity factors from 1995-2004, enough additional energy to supply near 25 million residential households; and
• 4% improvement in coal plants heat rates since 1999.

So What?

Well, for one thing, power consumers not only got lower emissions as a result of competitive wholesale power generation but they saved more than $15 billion in utility bills—not a bad outcome from cleaning up your act!

Now concerns over climate change have resulted in pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions even more.  It is going to take a lot of money to perfect carbon capture and sequestration—and more time to transform the coal industry. The lessons learned a decade ago are still true today.  Competition has a wonderful way of concentrating the mind of market participants who seek profits and market share.  If they can do well by doing good it is a bonus.

Meanwhile, Markowsky knows that the existing coal fired generation installed base is not going away.  If the Administration can reduce emissions from coal by encouraging investment in the best performing plants and discourage the dirtiest plants it creates movement toward its long term objective of replacing the coal fleet with cleaner resources without undermining the reliability of the power supply system.

Instead of the command and control endangement findings, a better strategy just might be to unleash the forces of greed and competition to achieve the Administration’s goal faster, cheaper and better than all the rules Federal bureaucrats can write.

These are this Tuesday’s top ten analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from early Wall Street research calls:

American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Arcelor Mittal (NYSE: MT) Raised to Buy at UBS.
BB&T Corp. (NYSE: BBT) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Honeywell International (NYSE: HON) Cut to Underweight at HSBC.
Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) Reiterated Sell at Auriga.
Leap Wirless (NASDAQ: LEAP) Started as Outperform at Bernstein.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) Reiterated Buy at Auriga.
News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWS) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Starwood Hotels (NYSE: HOT) Raised to Buy at BofA/Merrill Lynch.
Wendy’s/Arby’s Group (NYSE: WEN) Started as Outperform at Oppenheimer.

You can sign up for our free daily email to hear more news on key analyst calls, top day trader alerts, mergers and acquisitions, Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

Jon C. Ogg

US DOE announced that American Electric Power (AEP) will receive $334 million in tax dollars to pay part of the costs of installing the nation’s first commercial-scale carbon dioxide capture and storage system on its Mountaineer coal-fired power plant in New Haven, W.Va.

AEP must negotiate a contract with DOE to spell out how the utility will spend the money to remove at least 90 percent of the carbon dioxide from 235 megawatts of the plant’s 1,300 megawatts of capacity.

The captured carbon dioxide, approximately 1.5 million metric tons per year, will be treated and compressed, then injected into suitable geologic formations for permanent storage approximately 1.5 miles below the surface. The system will begin commercial operation in 2015, according to the company’s application for public tax dollars.

The $334 million requested by AEP is about half of the estimated cost of the system.

AEP and Alstom began operating a smaller-scale validation of the technology in September at the Mountaineer plant. That system captures up to 90 percent of the carbon dioxide from a slipstream of flue gas equivalent to 20 megawatts of generating capacity.

The captured carbon dioxide, more than 100,000 tons a year, is being compressed and injected into suitable geologic formations for permanent storage approximately 1.5 miles below the surface.  No federal funds are being used for the validation project.

These are ten of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from early Wall Street research calls this Wednesday morning:

American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Arris Group Inc. (NASDAQ: ARRS) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE: AGO) Raised to Outperform at KBW.
Bank of Ireland (NYSE: IRE) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Express Scripts (NASDAQ: ESRX) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
KB Home (NYSE: KBH) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Mechel OAO (NYSE: MTL) Cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse.
Micron Technology Inc. (NYSE: MU) Reiterated Buy ($10 target) at Auriga.
RF Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: RFMD) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Simon Property Group Inc. (NYSE: SPG) Started as Outperform at KBW.

You can join our open email distribution list to receive daily emails with analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader alerts, market rumors, merger activity, IPOs and secondary offerings, Warren Buffett and guru activity and more.

Jon C. Ogg

Hola a todos/as,

Ya teneis a vuestra disposición el último artículo que he escrito en la Revista Protocolo.

Ver artículo

Seguimos en contacto. Un saludo.

Merv and I are going to write a follow up dialog (q.v. www.mervadrian.wordpress.com) about ‘AEP’ and BI. This will probably to appear in about 10-12 days.

One of the issues that we have been noodling (and that s being raised, even hijacked) is the relationship between BI and ‘AEP’ and whether AEP will complement BI or interfere. there is also a possible distinction between post-TP data (which is what much of BI has focused on, necessarily) and pre-TP or even new data (where AEP may offer different approaches). Much to think upon – and ideas and comments are welcome.

Boo, why am I never satisfied? Shall post some inspirational things I’ve been collecting for my Coursework that are 1000 times better.

There will very honestly be the notion of doing photography somewhere in my head. It’s fun, it’s simple, I’ve seen Victor suffer through it. But then again I guess the reason why I won’t that I haven’t told anyone is that there are/will be more people doing this. Somehow guys seem to be quite… arrogant(?) when they think about photography and I don’t like the entire crowd.

Haha. Hush.

Playing around with texture and colour. Is. Simple. And. Pretty. Fun. I don’t know it just looks very pretty. Like what I really want to do later on in life if I do survive that far ahead.

Illustration will always be pretty to me (: I’ve been rummaging around the web looking for desktop icons (Nicole is so badass pretty right now!) and idk. doodling crap that I’m way too lazy to scan in! Back to practising erhu.

Psst: I make icons sporadically.

Now that that’s out of the way, let me move on to more serious issues. Such as: Why haven’t I posted a proper diary-like entry in aeons? and Am I going to be able to get in for AEP in JC? and Why am I writing this at 10:45 PM when I should be getting ready for bed? and Uh oh, I should totally be writing my personal statement right now.\

Uh, whatever. I’ll post tomorrow instead.

listening to 3OH!3 samples and feeling the cool wind, JSH’s house has such perfect ventilation, right amount of wind and all, eating Quadratini and looking at beautiful things on Abduzeedo. Here’s a recap of yesterday.

Went to school early again to just sit outside the RC because it was still locked and all. Watched a few episodes of Glee to pass the time, I think I became 100x no life ever since I koped all those entertainment. Suddenly a stream of SMSes from everyone going I WILL BE LATE, GOT RUSH HOUR TRAFFIC! Lesson was filled with Mr Dan stories, it’s so sad it was his last lesson ): I would have loved to hear more about NS and everything.

I do not get how there can be disaposable weapons the size of toilet piping the weight of three laptops just LYING AROUND after they are thrown away. And I do not think it’s bimbotic to express this disbelief. (: Halfway through I had to go “toilet” to pass timo my laptop. And while giving SCHQ some Wang Wang I also lost a couple to NKY. I think I only ate 2 packets of my own food thus far. And my seaweed chips are also missing!

Later after lesson I went to find JSH! We went to Ion to eat Xin Wang HK Cafe which absolutely has the most awesome food EVER. I have not eaten anything even MEDIOCRE from there because everything is heavenly awesome. Then we went to MUJI, bought some Pardon trip things and I had cheesecake <3

Thursday night after Inspire dinner I also went Far East and bought a scarf and a bag, and yesterday I ended up buying… eyeliner. haha! I even got some gay free face mask. Which reminds me of our plan to get face masks in Pardon. Bought some alcohol and chips which was promptly finished and we watched ANTM and some funny movie at JSH’s house. But I just fell asleep.

I guess these few days I’ve been getting so little sleep, way too tired to function normally. Doesn’t feel like Saturday now, does it? SPACEBAR tonight.

From up here the city lights burn
Like a thousand miles of fire.

In Merv Adrian’s Blog (http://mervadrian.wordpress.com/) he styles the issue as: ‘Will AEP Replace RDBMS? A Dialogue With Charles Brett’.

In the original dialogue published in Pund-IT on November 4th, the title was different: ‘A Dialogue: Traditional RDBMSs Stagnate as Analytical Event Processing (AEP) Emerges from the Shadows’. The difference matters. I was not trying to suggest that RDBMSs will disappear. Far from it: they will continue. Instead I was trying to explore the issue that Event Processing and the capability to analyze are moving so fast forward that they will remove the ‘crown of importance’ that RDBMSs have enjoyed for so long – a change in relative importance.

In the next INSIGHT-SPECTRA (www.insight-spectra.com – scheduled for publication later this month) a fuller discussion of both RDBMS and AEP than was possible in the Dialogue will appear. [For a copy, please email requestcopy@insight-spectra.com]

Aquest dimarts s’ha presentat al Col·legi de Periodistes de Catalunya la campanya “A la universitat en català!”. Aquesta campanya, liderada des de Plataforma per la Llengua, torna a demanar al Govern i a les universitats el desplegament de l’article 6.4 de la Llei d’Universitats de Catalunya. En aquest article de la LUC, aprovada pel Parlament de Catalunya al 2003, estableix que el professorat fix (PDI) de nova contractació haurà d’acreditar un nivell suficient de llengua catalana.

Aquesta nova iniciativa a favor de la llengua té el suport de la Plataforma Universitària pel Català (PUC), el Sindicat d’Estudiants dels Països Catalans (SEPC), Estudiants en Acció, la Federació Nacional d’Estudiants de Catalunya (FNEC), l’Associació d’Estudiants Progressistes (AEP) i la Associació de Joves Estudiants de Catalunya (AJEC).

De nou l’estudiantat català es mobilitza a favor del català a la universitat, després de la campanya “Estudiantspelcatalà.cat” impulsada per la PUC.

Les reivindicacions de la campanya són les següents:

1. Poder rebre l’ensenyament de tots els graus íntegrament en català. L’alumnat que ha estat escolaritzat en català ha tingut el català com a  llengua vehicular d’aprenentatge. Volem que adquireixi el vocabulari científic i professional, també en català i això ho ha de fer a la universitat. Exigim que l’alumne que ho vulgui pugui rebre l’ensenyament de tots els graus íntegrament en català.

A Catalunya: l’Estatut del 2006 que, en el seu article 35.1 diu “el català s’ha d’utilitzar normalment com a llengua vehicular i d’aprenentatge en l’ensenyament universitari”.

Al País Valencià: l’article 6.2 de l’Estatut del 2006 que estableix “el dret a conèixer i usar el valencià i a rebre l’ensenyament del, i en, valencià”.

A les Illes Balears: exigim l’aplicació dels estatuts aprovats per la mateixa universitat, que consagra el català com la llengua pròpia i oficial de la institució.

Dissortadament, en el cas de la Universitat de Perpinyà no es poden invocar disposicions legals favorables al català, perquè la legislació francesa hi estableix tota mena d’entrebancs i ho deixa tot a la pura voluntarietat.

Hi tenim dret.


2. Més oferta de postgraus i màsters oficials en català. Cal que les universitats imparteixin més postgraus i màsters oficials en llengua catalana i exigim als governs que vetllin perquè aquesta implantació sigui efectiva.  Hi tenim dret.
3. Que tot el professorat que s’incorpori a les universitats conegui suficientment la llengua catalana. Demanem que s’estableixi l’exigència d’un determinat nivell de llengua catalana per al professorat fix de nova contractació a les universitats.

A Catalunya: exigim que es compleixi, per part de totes les universitats, l’acord del Consell Interuniversitari de Catalunya (11 de juny de 2008), d’acord amb l’article 6.4. de la Llei d’Universitats de Catalunya (1/2003) i que es materialitzi en Decret de Govern.

Al País Valencià: exigim que s’acomplisca l’article 23.1 de la Llei 4/1983 d’ús i ensenyament del valencià que assenyala que ”atesa la cooficialitat del valencià i del castellà, els professors han de conèixer les dues llengües”.

A les Illes Balears: exigim que s’acompleixi el deure estatutari de normalitzar la llengua catalana en l’àmbit de les seves competències, per a la qual cosa és imprescindible que tot el professorat sigui competent en la llengua pròpia de la institució.

Hi tenim dret.


4. Que s’anunciï i es respecti la llengua de la docència. No totes les universitats publiquen la llengua en què s’imparteixen les classes. Cal que les universitats anunciïn la llengua de docència i que es respecti tant en les lliçons magistrals com en les pràctiques. Hi tenim dret.
5. Poder fer els exàmens, les pràctiques i els treballs en català. Volem que el professorat universitari sigui competent en llengua catalana, com ho és en d’altres llengües i volem que acrediti els seus coneixements de català abans d’ocupar una plaça permanent a les nostres universitats. No ha de ser possible que un alumne vegi conculcats els seus drets individuals d’expressar-se en català pel fet que un professor o professora addueixi que no l’entén. Hi tenim dret.
6. Que hi hagi un reconeixement oficial de la recerca feta en català. Volem que les nostres universitats siguin universitats de referència i que excel·leixin en la docència i en la recerca, però les volem arrelades i compromeses amb el país que les sustenta econòmicament. La universitat, per la seva pròpia naturalesa ha d’acollir diferents llengües, però això ha de ser compatible amb considerar la llengua pròpia, el català, com a llengua de recerca a tots els efectes. Hi tenim dret.
7. Disposar de bibliografia específica en català. Desenvolupar el vocabulari científic i tècnic de la nostra llengua així com divulgar-lo és responsabilitat de les nostres universitats. Per tal que els futurs professionals siguin lingüísticament competents en el seu àmbit, cal que disposin de bibliografia específica en català. Cal que les universitats s’hi comprometin i se’n responsabilitzin. Hi tenim dret.
8. Que l’estudiantat de mobilitat i intercanvi conegui el català. L’intercanvi entre universitaris és molt important, però no ha de representar un impediment per al català, sinó una oportunitat tant per utilitzar-lo com a llengua de treball a les universitats com perquè els universitaris que ens visiten puguin aprendre’l. La mobilitat no ha de ser una excusa per simplificar el mapa lingüístic de les nostres universitats. Cal que les universitats i el govern s’hi comprometin. Hi tenim dret.
9. Que totes les universitats elaborin un reglament d’usos lingüístics i el compleixin. Les universitats han de jugar un paper actiu en la promoció de la llengua, això no pot quedar en declaracions d’intencions sinó que cal fixar-ho en un reglament que així ho estableixi. Cal executar i fer respectar aquest reglament. Hi tenim dret.
10. Que les i els futurs professionals siguin competents en llengua catalana. La societat necessita professionals ben preparats que puguin exercir les seves professions en el futur en llengua catalana i és la universitat qui els ha de donar les eines per fer-ho. Exigim que es respecti el dret de l’alumnat a rebre l’ensenyament en català per tal que com a societat puguem ser atesos per professionals competents també en llengua catalana. Hi tenim dret.

Demà dimarts, 3 de novembre, a les 12 hores al Col·legi de Periodistes de Catalunya (Rambla de Catalunya, 10) es presentarà la campanya “A la universitat en català” que impulsa Plataforma per la Llengua amb el suport de la Plataforma Universitària pel Català (PUC), el Sindicat d’Estudiants dels Països Catalans (SEPC), Estudiants en Acció, la Federació Nacional d’Estudiants de Catalunya (FNEC), l’Associació d’Estudiants Progressistes (AEP) i la Associació de Joves Estudiants de Catalunya (AJEC).

Un portaveu de la PUC parlarà amb nom de les associacions d’estudiants adherides a la campanya durant la roda de premsa.

És la segona vegada aquest any que les principals associacions d’estudiants del país es mobilitzen a favor de la llengua catalana. La PUC va aplegar el passat abril a Girona en el marc de la campanya “Estudiantspelcatalà.cat” al SEPC, la FNEC i Estudiants en Acció a més d’entitats de la societat civil com ara Plataforma per la Llengua, Coordinadora d’Assembles per la Llengua i Òmnium Cultural en un jornada reivindicativa per defensar el català com a llengua universitària.

Les reivindicacions de la campanya són les següents:

1. Poder rebre l’ensenyament de tots els graus íntegrament en català. L’alumnat que ha estat escolaritzat en català ha tingut el català com a  llengua vehicular d’aprenentatge. Volem que adquireixi el vocabulari científic i professional, també en català i això ho ha de fer a la universitat. Exigim que l’alumne que ho vulgui pugui rebre l’ensenyament de tots els graus íntegrament en català.

A Catalunya: l’Estatut del 2006 que, en el seu article 35.1 diu “el català s’ha d’utilitzar normalment com a llengua vehicular i d’aprenentatge en l’ensenyament universitari”.

Al País Valencià: l’article 6.2 de l’Estatut del 2006 que estableix “el dret a conèixer i usar el valencià i a rebre l’ensenyament del, i en, valencià”.

A les Illes Balears: exigim l’aplicació dels estatuts aprovats per la mateixa universitat, que consagra el català com la llengua pròpia i oficial de la institució.

Dissortadament, en el cas de la Universitat de Perpinyà no es poden invocar disposicions legals favorables al català, perquè la legislació francesa hi estableix tota mena d’entrebancs i ho deixa tot a la pura voluntarietat.

Hi tenim dret.


2. Més oferta de postgraus i màsters oficials en català. Cal que les universitats imparteixin més postgraus i màsters oficials en llengua catalana i exigim als governs que vetllin perquè aquesta implantació sigui efectiva.  Hi tenim dret.
3. Que tot el professorat que s’incorpori a les universitats conegui suficientment la llengua catalana. Demanem que s’estableixi l’exigència d’un determinat nivell de llengua catalana per al professorat fix de nova contractació a les universitats.

A Catalunya: exigim que es compleixi, per part de totes les universitats, l’acord del Consell Interuniversitari de Catalunya (11 de juny de 2008), d’acord amb l’article 6.4. de la Llei d’Universitats de Catalunya (1/2003) i que es materialitzi en Decret de Govern.

Al País Valencià: exigim que s’acomplisca l’article 23.1 de la Llei 4/1983 d’ús i ensenyament del valencià que assenyala que ”atesa la cooficialitat del valencià i del castellà, els professors han de conèixer les dues llengües”.

A les Illes Balears: exigim que s’acompleixi el deure estatutari de normalitzar la llengua catalana en l’àmbit de les seves competències, per a la qual cosa és imprescindible que tot el professorat sigui competent en la llengua pròpia de la institució.

Hi tenim dret.


4. Que s’anunciï i es respecti la llengua de la docència. No totes les universitats publiquen la llengua en què s’imparteixen les classes. Cal que les universitats anunciïn la llengua de docència i que es respecti tant en les lliçons magistrals com en les pràctiques. Hi tenim dret.
5. Poder fer els exàmens, les pràctiques i els treballs en català. Volem que el professorat universitari sigui competent en llengua catalana, com ho és en d’altres llengües i volem que acrediti els seus coneixements de català abans d’ocupar una plaça permanent a les nostres universitats. No ha de ser possible que un alumne vegi conculcats els seus drets individuals d’expressar-se en català pel fet que un professor o professora addueixi que no l’entén. Hi tenim dret.
6. Que hi hagi un reconeixement oficial de la recerca feta en català. Volem que les nostres universitats siguin universitats de referència i que excel·leixin en la docència i en la recerca, però les volem arrelades i compromeses amb el país que les sustenta econòmicament. La universitat, per la seva pròpia naturalesa ha d’acollir diferents llengües, però això ha de ser compatible amb considerar la llengua pròpia, el català, com a llengua de recerca a tots els efectes. Hi tenim dret.
7. Disposar de bibliografia específica en català. Desenvolupar el vocabulari científic i tècnic de la nostra llengua així com divulgar-lo és responsabilitat de les nostres universitats. Per tal que els futurs professionals siguin lingüísticament competents en el seu àmbit, cal que disposin de bibliografia específica en català. Cal que les universitats s’hi comprometin i se’n responsabilitzin. Hi tenim dret.
8. Que l’estudiantat de mobilitat i intercanvi conegui el català. L’intercanvi entre universitaris és molt important, però no ha de representar un impediment per al català, sinó una oportunitat tant per utilitzar-lo com a llengua de treball a les universitats com perquè els universitaris que ens visiten puguin aprendre’l. La mobilitat no ha de ser una excusa per simplificar el mapa lingüístic de les nostres universitats. Cal que les universitats i el govern s’hi comprometin. Hi tenim dret.
9. Que totes les universitats elaborin un reglament d’usos lingüístics i el compleixin. Les universitats han de jugar un paper actiu en la promoció de la llengua, això no pot quedar en declaracions d’intencions sinó que cal fixar-ho en un reglament que així ho estableixi. Cal executar i fer respectar aquest reglament. Hi tenim dret.
10. Que les i els futurs professionals siguin competents en llengua catalana. La societat necessita professionals ben preparats que puguin exercir les seves professions en el futur en llengua catalana i és la universitat qui els ha de donar les eines per fer-ho. Exigim que es respecti el dret de l’alumnat a rebre l’ensenyament en català per tal que com a societat puguem ser atesos per professionals competents també en llengua catalana. Hi tenim dret.

]]> http://jouleblog.com/2009/11/02/aep-commissions-mountaineer-carbon-capture-and-sequestration-project/ Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:05:14 +0000 johndegaspari http://jouleblog.com/2009/11/02/aep-commissions-mountaineer-carbon-capture-and-sequestration-project/

Source: Alstom

American Electric Power and Alstom formally commissioned its Mountaineer Plant on Friday, the world’s first coal-fired power plant to capture and store carbon dioxide. The Mountaineer CSS demonstration project began capturing carbon dioxide Sept. 1 and began storing it Oct. 2. It’s designed to capture 100,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin III and U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) attended the event.

AEP’s 1,300-megawatt Mountaineer electric generation plant was retrofitted earlier this year with Alstom’s patented chilled ammonia carbon dioxide capture technology that captures the plant’s exhaust flue gas. The exhaust gas is chilled and combined with a solution of ammonium carbonate, which absorbs the carbon dioxide to create ammonium bicarbonate. The ammonium bicarbonate solution is then pressurized and heated in a separate process to produce a high-purity stream of carbon dioxide.  The carbon dioxide will be compressed and piped for storage into deep geologic formations, roughly 1.5 miles beneath the plant surface. Approximately 90 percent of the CO2 will be captured and permanently stored.

AEP has applied for federal stimulus funding to scale up the Alstom 20 megawatt-electric (MWe) chilled ammonia technology demonstration plant to 235 MWe. The proposed commercial-scale demonstration will capture and geologically store approximately 1.5 million metric tonnes of CO2 per year. Alstom says it will make carbon capture and sequestration technology commercially available by 2015.

In October U.S Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced $55 million to develop advanced technologies that can capture carbon dioxide from flue gases at existing power plants. A few days before that announcement, on October 12, Secretary Chu issued a “call to action” to Energy Ministers and other attendees of the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum in London. Noting that coal accounts for 25% of the world’s energy supply and 40% of carbon emissions, Secretary Chu acknowledged that coal would be a major and growing energy source now and in the future. “For this reason, I believe we must make it our goal to advance carbon capture and storage technology to the point where widespread, affordable deployment can begin in 8 to 10 years,” he said.

Is he right? The question of where federal funds should be directed will be sure to heat up as Congress begins to tackle to climate bill, and is sure to be a hot-button issue in cash-strapped states (Like West Virginia) whose economies are strongly tied to the coal industry. Still, I would like to see more funds directed to wind and solar power as well as the infrastructure to carry the power to its end-use markets. I think its money that needs to be spent now if this country is to upgrade its energy supply in the future, and it’s the only way, really, to break away from coal as an energy source to a significant degree.

What’s your take?

American Electric Power is scheduled to begin capturing carbon dioxide emissions today at its Mountaineer plant in New Haven, W. Va. The Mountaineer project marks the first time that CO2 capture and sequestration (CCS) has been combined with a U.S. power plant. 

The initial amount sequestered is modest–only about 110,000 tons annually, or around 2 percent of the plant’s annual emissions. It’s a good start though. 

The OELC believes that CCS technology is critical to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and address climate change. 

Watch for the OELC’s research and commentary regarding CCS, and the related legal issues, in the next issue of the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law.

The Business Insider has posted an article here that reflects what I think is the first signs of the positive effect the weakening dollar is having on the economy.

Dollar Futures (/DX) have fallen by over 20% since it reached a local maximum at the end of last year, and a lot has been said about the negative ripple effects that that is having.  Certainly, import prices are increasing, countries that have their currency pegged to the dollar are having to weaken their monetary policy to follow the fed, and the Republicans in Washington are harping on the White House for failing to live up to its strong dollar policy.

However, behind closed doors, these same politicians are actually supportive of a weak dollar, at least in the short term.  One reason for this, as shown by this report, is that it will increase exports since America’s products become favorably priced on the open market as the dollar declines.  Certainly coal (ETF: KOL) is a beneficiary of this, but other American exports such as steel, chemicals, and medical supplies will be helped. There isn’t much good to be said about domestic demand, and the hope is that foreign consumers will step up first and because of the weak dollar, American products will look relatively cheap.

To be specific, this development should benefit coal miners such as Peabody Energy Corporation (BTU), Arch Coat (ACI) and Massey Energy Company (MEE), but will hurt coal-centric utilities such as American Electric Power (AEP) as they compete for supplies with hungry overseas users such as China.

Shipping companies should also benefit, as water remains the only way to ship bulk goods between the US and other continents.  Additionally, domestic transporters like Norfolk Southern (NSC) and Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNI) will benefit as coal is transported from the mines in the Mid West to the ports at the coast.

-AH

Disclosure: Long BNI

(Note: I actually wrote this 3 weeks ago, just never posted it for some reason.)

A few weeks ago, I noticed with dismay that the lot that has been empty for the 20+ years I’ve lived on this street was being built on.  My family isn’t that happy about it, either.  However, we can’t say anything as it’s not our property.  But whatever.

In a “welcome to the neighborhood” gesture, we may have delayed some of their construction.  It all centers over our maple tree:

 You can kinda sorta make out the power lines.  This saga deals with those lines and an electric pole.  

About two weeks ago while getting the mail I was approached by a man working for AEP.  He asked me if it would be alright if they could trim our tree, as they needed to get to the lines to set up an electric pole for the soon-to-be neighbors.  I told him it was my parent’s house and I couldn’t authorize anything.  He gave me his card, which I gave my dad.  I didn’t think too much of it, since the tree usually gets trimmed every so often by AEP.  However, he told them he wasn’t going to let them cut the tree this time.  Apparently sometime while I was in college, they had not only trimmed the tree, but cut it back by 20 feet.  The kicker was that it was a poorly-executed job.  So this time around my dad put his foot down. 

The phone tag game lasted around two weeks.  My dad tried to call the AEP only to get his voicemail, and the AEP guy couldn’t get it that he needed to call my dad, despite giving him my dad’s work number. 

Early one morning this past week, my sister Amy answered a knock on the door.  It was the guys from tree cutting place, asking her to move her car so they could cut the tree.  She called Dad at work, and he told us not to let them cut it.  So we told them what he said, wouldn’t let them go near the tree.  The foreman called his boss, talked to him for about 15 minutes, then the trucks left.

Monday, my dad had a meeting with one of the AEP guys.  They looked at the tree, made some notes and drawings, and came to an agreement.  The next day, a workcrew came by and trimmed part of the tree.  There was a nice, huge, hole in our previously lovely maple tree.  This was October 5.  My dad said it was fine, because the wires they cut around are high voltage and needed to be cut with special equipment that the regular tree-trimming people didn’t have.   I understand…but three weeks later, we still have a big hole in our tree. 

There's a hole in my tree!

My dad says he’s going to call AEP about it.

Mon plus beau projet mené pendant les deux années de DUT, c’est sans aucun doute ce qu’on appelle chez nous “l’AEP” ou atelier d’environnement professionnel… Un nom un peu barbare qui renferme pourtant un tas de choses intéressantes. La première occasion de travailler sur le sujet de notre choix, la première occasion de mener de toute pièce notre projet, de se débrouiller avec les délais, d’organiser les rencontres qui nous convenaient avec les professionnels… Bref, tout un tas de premières fois que l’on n’oublie pas !


L’AEP, ça a été pour moi la découverte de la collection jeunesse “Terre de mômes” publiée par Siloë, maison d’édition basée à Laval. Une collection qui vise à faire connaître aux enfants d’ici les différentes enfances des pays du monde. Quatre titres ont pour l’instant été publiés :

« Biwanté et le pays de la terre rêvée » de Gwenaële Thoumine, publié en octobre 2005, traite de l’enfance d’un petit Burkin abè qui souhaite découvrir une terre verte sans sécheresse ni chaleur pour vivre un quotidien plus facile. À tr avers ses voyages, l’enfant rencontrera successivement une potière, un balafoniste et un féticheur qui lui feront partager leur amour pour leur terre natale. Biwanté finira par choisir sa famille et ses racines, plutôt que sa ter re rêvée.

Kosâl  et Moni, en fants du sourire », de Claire Ly et illustré par Gwenaële Thoumine, publié en octobre 2007, habitent le Cambodge. « C’est une approche douce de l’histoire. On montre comment les enfants d’aujourd’hui v ivent à Phnom Penh ou dans les campagnes, avec toutes les questions qui se posent à eux », explique Laurent Hor, responsable de Siloë jeunesse. Ces enfants décident de partir en quête de leur passé et notamment du douloureux épisode des Khmers rouges.

« Noa et Rawane, à l’école de la Paix » de Yaël Hassan et illustré par Lionel Larchevêque, sont deux jeunes filles respectivement israélienne et palestinienne qui intègrent une école destinée à apprendre la paix aux enfants des deux pays en guerre.

Quant à « Zafy et Tam, enfants du métissage » de Nathalie Boquien et illustré par Claude Grollimund, il s’agit de l’aventure de deux garçons qui décident d’interroger les sages du village pour connaître leurs origines et pour savoir pourquoi ils n’ont pas tous les mêmes caractéristiques physiques. Cette découverte de soi passe par la découverte des autres et celle des religions.

The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently handed down a  honking huge decision that may foreshadow increased implementation of controls designed to limit the amount of greenhouse gases released from fossil fuel electric generating plants.  It is a huge victory for those wanting to limit the use of fossil fuels to generate electricity.

The appellate court determined that two separate groups of plaintiffs could sue coal fired utility plants under federal nuisance law for annually releasing hundreds of millions of tons of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.  The two groups of plaintiffs included 8 northeastern states, New York City, and three large land trusts.

In making its 139 page ruling, the Second Circuit overturned the district court, which had erroneously ruled that the case presented non-justiciable political questions.  What a terrible punt on the issue by the district court.  “On further review, the district court is overruled on the play.”  To make matter worse for the utility industry, the appellate court also ruled that TVA was not immune to suit. 

Hello Frankfort and Columbus, we better be moving forward on finding air pollution controls that work to reduce greenhouse emissions if we want to continue to depend almost solely on coal for generating electric power.  The days of coal fired utility plants without such controls are coming to an end.  That is simply a fact, like it or not.  You can either bitch about it or face up to the reality of the situation and FIX IT!!

We need lots of research dollars to develop working air pollution controls.  Can you say University of Kentucky and University of Louisville’s engineering departments working on such projects in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Energy??