Green Posts » carbon footprint

Times Square is Going Green for the New Year

jehaine — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 17:34:54 +0000

It will be a green New New Year’s Eve, in New York this year. The big red Coca Cola sign, which has been an iconic part of Times Square, since 1932, is going green. The sign will now be lit by wind power, and will be powered by this green energy, in time for the ball to drop in NY, this week. Even better, the entirety of the rest of the billboards on this famous intersection, are now joining the move by Coke, and arrangements have been made, with ConEdison Solutions, to supply green energy to power them. It is estimated the change, will collectively, reduce CO2 emissions by 1,866 metric tons per year. In addition to “greening” the sign, Coca Cola, will use it to kick off a new recycling campaign, starting on New Years’ Eve, with a stated goal off 100% recycling of the company’s cans and bottles.

World’s Largest Carbon Allowance Auction a Success

jehaine — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 15:10:13 +0000

Strong demand shown for available offsets

The world’s largest carbon emissions allowance auction, to date, was held on Dec 17^th, and was deemed a general success. The allowances were offered for sale by the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the sellers were 10 Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states. The auction produced over 106 million dollars in proceeds, which will be used by the states, to invest in energy efficiency, as well as ,clean energy technology. Bidding was considered strong, in this, the second of the “pre-compliance” auctions (compliance obligations do not go into effect until Jan 1, 2009). Demand outpaced supply by 3.5x. The allowances went for $3.38/allowance, 31 cents more per allowance than the previous six state auction held on Sept. 25^th. The next auction is set for March 18^th.

Clean Coal Technology and It’s Potentially Catastrophic Risks

jehaine — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 05:26:43 +0000

Although, clean coal technology has yet to prove it’s viability, storage of the fluid CO2, which would result from the process, should raise many concerns. While watching a documentary about the processing and sequestration techniques under development, some concerns arose, for me. As I viewed animations illustrate the process of pumping fluid CO2, beneath the earth’s surface, into either man-made pockets, or more likely natural geological formations, it immediately occurred to me that any nearby earthquake or other seismic disturbance, could bring about disastrous consequences. The prospect of CO2, release due to seismic activity, brought to mind a tragic natural disaster which occurred a little over 20 years ago, in Lake Nyos, Cameroon.

Lake Nyos had developed in the remnants of an old volcanic crater. One evening in August of 1986, as local villagers slept, a noxious cloud of CO2 was released from beneath the lake. The poisonous gas flowed down from the lake into surrounding low lying areas, killing nearly 2000 people, and vast amounts of livestock and wildlife. Deaths occurred up to 15 miles away from the source. Permanent inhabitation of the area is now prohibited. The amount of CO2 released during the Lake Nyos event, was quite small in relation to the vast deposits, which would result from implementation of carbon capture technology.

The situation becomes more worrisome when one considers that the current injection techniques, planned for use, were designed to handle fluids far less buoyant than CO2. Underground injection projects, involving these lower buoyancy fluids have already been implicated in the induction of seismic activity, causing many small earthquakes. The greater buoyancy of CO2, also increases the possibility of migration, into ground water or through the earth’s surface. It seems that the potential leakage of this highly concentrated CO2, from the deposits planned, could cause far more sudden and devastating environmental problems than unmitigated carbon emissions.

Our carbon footprint must be reduced, but this technology comes with too many problems. I feel the large amounts of capital currently being spent on development of clean coal technology, in an attempt to preserve the coal industry, would be better utilized promoting innovation in other alternative energy technologies.