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Effect from one of world’s few carbon-capturing plants measured
Shell facility touted as a solution to lessen carbon footprint said to be doing the opposite
Shell’s multimillion-dollar project “Quest” in Alberta province in western Canada, built to trap and store carbon dioxide emissions, has been criticized as insufficient by an international NGO. In a report by Global Witness published on Thursday, the organization suggests the oil giant’s plant emits “more climate-wrecking gasses than it is capturing.”
They are referring to the entire Shell plant here, not just the Quest project!
According to the investigation, the carbon footprint left by the self-proclaimed “safe and effective” project exceeds the amount of greenhouse gas it has captured. While Shell says the plant’s carbon-capture system has stopped some five million tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere in less than five years, this “only tells one side of the story,” the report states. Over the same period of time, it released 7.5 million tons of polluting gasses.
The climate damage caused by the plant’s annual carbon footprint is the equivalent of 1.2 million petrol cars, according to Global Witness.
Only a few similar projects exist worldwide, and the Shell-operated Canada plant is being largely subsidized by the government to reduce carbon emissions. However, according to the findings, the plant’s effectiveness has been significantly overstated.
“Just 48% of the plant’s carbon emissions are captured, we found, falling woefully short of the 90% carbon-capture rate promised by industry for fossil hydrogen projects,” the report says. It calls for a halt to support and investment in a technology “that is not only failing to deliver any effective action in tackling the climate crisis – but is in fact contributing to it.”
Earlier this week, a large group of scientists and academics in Canada urged their country’s government not to sponsor companies using the technology. Tax credits should not become “a fossil fuel subsidy,” they said in a letter.
Shell claims its carbon-capture technology “overall has met or exceeded our expectations,” according to Vice, quoting the company’s regional spokesperson. Apparently Quest doesn’t cover the whole facility.
“This analysis is simply wrong. Our Quest facility was designed some years ago as a demonstration project to prove the underlying… concept, while capturing around a third of CO2 emissions,” an unnamed Shell spokesperson said, according to Sky News.
The expensive technology is promoted as a solution to make fossil fuels more environmentally friendly by trapping and storing emissions. A coalition of more than a dozen energy companies has been formed to support a major carbon-capture hub in Houston, US. Shell has recently joined in, supporting the carbon-capture and storage project, which is estimated to cost $100 billion.
$100 billion - you could feed 100 million people for a couple years with that.
World Coal Production and Use Increased in 2021,
All-Time Highs Approached
Duggan Flanakin
January 24, 2022
The International Energy Agency (IEA) reports worldwide coal demand, including for steel production, is approaching an all-time high.
Global coal demand fell by 4 percent in the pandemic year 2020, the biggest decline since World War II, but coal demand surged in 2021 as economies rebounded from the 2020 lockdowns. The IEA projects coal use will rise at an annual rate of 6 percent through 2024, surpassing its previous all-time high for use sometime in 2022.
The rapid rise in coal-fueled power generation across Asia accounted for three-quarters of the rebound in 2021. Yet even in the European Union and the United States, the post-pandemic rebound resulted in 20 percent gains in coal-fired power generation from 2020.
The greatest increases in coal demand are in the power generation sector, which recovered from two down years with a 9 percent rise in 2021 to an all-time high of 10,350 terawatt-hours, according to the IEA’s Coal 2021 report.
According to the IEA, the gap between the political commitments to meet net zero carbon dioxide emissions and the realities of the electric power demand and the increasing use of coal to satisfy it, is widening.
China’s Number One
Demand for inexpensive, reliable electric power in Asian nations explains most of rise in coal usage.
Coal-fueled power generation is expected to rise by 12 percent in India and 9 percent in China, in 2022.
Although China pledged to reach net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2060, the IEA reports it currently accounts for half of global coal-fueled power generation, and that use is growing.
The new report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) notes recent power shortages and rolling blackouts in China led to calls for even greater reliance on coal-fired power generation by the Xi administration and for Chinese banks to increase financing for coal mines and power plants.
China, the world’s largest coal importer, already has 1,080 gigawatts of coal-fired power generation, about five times the installed coal-fired capacity in the United States.
Floods last fall from devastating rainfalls in British Columbia were attributed to global warming. But satellite photos from that 'atmospheric river' reveal it's 'headwaters' were over China. IMHO, the record rainfalls in British Columbia came not from global warming, but from the unprecedented air pollution in China, mostly from increased coal burning, combined with La Nina.
India and Australia Follow Suit
India is not only the second largest coal importer, the nation also has significant coal reserves.
Coal is a “mainstay” of India’s energy system, the CSIS report added, providing over 70 percent of the nation’s electricity, and the coal also provides 4 million Indians with direct or indirect jobs.
The Modi government, desperate to increase domestic coal production, is rapidly auctioning off coal reserves to private companies.
The CSIS report’s authors Sandeep Pai and Jane Nakano also note Australia, which produces five times as much coal per person as second-place South Africa, is unlikely to phase out coal production any time soon.
Their view is shared by The Australian, the nation’s largest newspaper, which says criticism of the country as the world’s largest exporter of coal, “looks ridiculous” in the face of rising coal consumption in Asia, Europe, and the United States. The newspaper said the trend in coal consumption explains why world leaders could not reach agreement on exiting fossil fuel usage at the Glasgow climate summit.
China, India, and Australia together produce and consume around two-thirds of global coal, and each of these nations has major reasons for not signing onto the United Kingdom’s coal phase-out pledge, according to the CSIS report.
The dramatic drop in President Joe Biden’s popularity has unraveled the administration’s climate agenda and left other world leaders in doubt as to the success of the UN climate agenda, surmises The Australian.
World Needs Coal
America’s anti-coal policies are hurting both this nation and nations eager to purchase high-quality Western coal, says Randy Eminger, executive director of the Energy Policy Network.
Eminger also says the developing world cannot grow without inexpensive and reliable energy which coal can deliver.
“Third world nations have realized that low-cost, abundant coal transformed America into a wealthy nation,” Eminger said. “They deserve the basic rights to have electricity.
“It saves lives by powering refrigeration, operating equipment, and manufacturing that creates good jobs,” said Eminger. “The United States should be increasing coal shipments, but instead, west coast states have banned coal shipments, harming the economies of both the United States and coal-hungry nations around the world.”
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Greenpeace fears 100,000 'ghost flights' in Europe this winter
will cause major climate damage
By UPI Staff
German carrier Lufthansa said earlier this month that expects to operate 18,000 half-empty flights
this winter to avoid losing access to some airports. File Photo by Jim Bryant/UPI | License Photo
Jan. 27 (UPI) -- Environmental advocates are expressing concern about a tactic that some airlines are taking this winter in order to keep their airport permits -- "ghost flights," which are commercial flights that carry few or no passengers.
Some carriers have said they have had to resort to ghost flights just to avoid losing the ability to fly into any given airport. The reason is because of fewer travelers due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Environmental advocacy group Greenpeace said this week that it's concerned about the emissions those flights would create -- and worries that there could be more than 100,000 ghost flights across Europe this winter.
"We're in a climate crisis, and the transport sector has the fastest-growing emissions in the EU," Greenpeace spokesman Herwig Schuster said in a statement.
"Pointless, polluting 'ghost flights' are just the tip of the iceberg. It would be irresponsible of the EU to not take the low-hanging fruit of ending ghost flights and banning short-haul flights where there's a reasonable train connection."
"Under normal circumstances, airlines are required to run at least 80% of booked flights to secure their airport slots according to EU law," the environmental group added. "Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the European Commission temporarily reduced this threshold to at least 50% of flights, but it will be increased again to 64% of flights in March."
Greenpeace said that operating 100,000 ghost flights would be the emissions equivalent of 1.4 million vehicles on the road for a year.
Earlier this month, German carrier Lufthansa said it would have to operate about 18,000 ghost flights this winter to keep its runway slots. The airline operates about 17% of all European flights. Greenpeace said those flights alone would emit 360,000 tons of carbon dioxide.
Another example of the hypocrisy of governments with regard to clobal warming.
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