BEG Gets FutureGen Responsibility

Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael L Williams upon July 20 announced that the Bureau of Economic Geology housed at the University of Texas at Austin's Jackson place of education of Geosciences, will manage the Texas reply to the anticipated U.S. Department of efficiency request for proposals from states interested in hosting the $1 billion FutureGen project

FutureGen is DOE's research initiative to build the power plant of the futurity - one that will exhibit electricity from coal with near naught emissions but also capture carbon dioxide for use in enhanced oil redemption and hydrogen gas for use in the refining, chemical, and transportation firing material industries. The prototype will be the world's cleanest fossil fuel-based power plant.

Williams told a assemblage of energy leaders that Texas is uniquely qualified to undertake the FutureGen throw out "No state is better equipped," he said, "to lead this land over the bridge from the fossil-fuel based activity economy of today to the hydrogen-based might economy of tomorrow." Williams had earlier spearheaded efforts to enact House Bill 2201 [Hughes, 79th Legislature, regular session], which lays state permitting provisions in place to facilitate the FutureGen facility and appropriates state stocks to develop the Texas proposal for overseeing the FutureGen project

BEG director Dr Scott Tinker explained that, "future power commerce will include incorporating power production with chemical production, using coal in innovative and cleaner ways, enhancing oil production with carbon dioxide injection, improving air quality by means of sequestering carbon dioxide, and creating inflammable air as a fuel.... Texas," he added, "is uniquely qualified for the siting, construction, and operation of FutureGen."

in truth scoring this plum would be a gigantic boon for the Lone Star State, which is the sole state that can use the CO2 from FutureGen for enhanced oil redemption on a large-scale basis. Congres has already approved initial funding for the cast and project definition and site selection are scheduled to be discussed in late 2005 [i]or[/i] part of to the other 2006. Construction may begin as early as 2008 with continuous power plant operations starting as early as 2012 with carbon sequestration to follow

Texas is already operating a ordeal program on CO2 injection that will provide valuable research upon this vital FutureGen component. The Frio proof injection pilot site, funded through a substantial grant from the DOE, is testing and demonstrating the ability to store CO2 in of great depth saltwater brines. This BEG cast includes nearly 20 U.S. and international partners. Early proceeds indicate that brine storage will be a viable carbon storage option. The Texas and greater large bay Coast region have the capacity to store above 200 gigatons (200 billion tons) of CO2 in brine aquifers, compared with general U.S. emissions of just 6 gigatons a year. The BEG will direction a Frio II study during 2006

HAWK organ of sights Invisible Emissions

TCEQ upon July 5 announced that it is sending on the outside a white helicopter armed with a HAWK infrared camera to flutter over refineries, pipelines, chemical plants, and other industrial facilities in the Houston-Beaumont region of the state as part of a close attention to identify volatile organic intermingles sources that have been unreported or under-reported. The goal is to improve the region's air quality by means of advancing the understanding of ozone formation.

The HAWK is a of recent origin cutting-edge technology camera that can bring to light VOC emissions that are invisible to the naked organ of sight The camera "sees" VOC's like as gasoline vapors, ethylene, or methane as a dark mist When the camera detects VOC's, equipment upon the helicopter will note the time and location and other pertinent information about the air pollution. TCEQ will then impel a letter to the facility asking for information about the emissions, of the like kind as the specific compound involved, the amount of the emission, the emblem or process that was in operation at the time of the emission, and various other data.

The helicopter will be flying above the area through the extreme point of July. TCEQ will also be making observations with the camera from a state vehicle, from a boat near industrial facilities, and from stationary vantage points in the research area. The data will be analyzed by the agency of Lamar University to determine if the camera can be a useful tool in further air emissions source identification and characterization studies. Final originates of the study are owed in December. This pilot application of mind which will cost about $100000 is part of the a great deal of larger TexAQS II study, which will undertake several studies to better understand ozone formation in the eastern half of Texas.

Perry Signs Bill for More Wind Power

The Texas Legislature took advantage of the first special session to enact a novel law [Senate Bill 20, 79th Legislature, 1st called session] that increases the renewal power goal for Texas from the generally received 2,000 MW (which was to be achieved by the agency of 2009 but has already been achieved) to 5000 MW through 2015 and 10,000 MW through 2025. At least 500 MW of this renewable generating capacity must be derived from non-wind sources. SB 20 also requires the Public Utility Commission to identify competitive renewable girths throughout the state and to report to the Legislature upon progress toward implementing the renewable goals.