According to CNET, scientists from the Georgia Institute of Technology have devised a system for ‘decarbonsizing‘ hydrocarbon fuels used in vehicles today (gasoline, methanol), separating the carbon from the hydrogen so that only heat, water and nitrogen (which is dealt with by the catalytic converter) are released from the exhaust into the atmosphere. This means no CO2 and perfectly green vehicles using our conventional internal combustion engines.
The report however does not touch the subject of energy: how much is lost in the decarbonizing process and whether this will reduce overall efficiency. Could this be the perfect solution? I remain intrigued.

“The system, developed by Georgia Tech professor Andrei Fedorov, removes the carbon from hydrocarbon fuels before it enters the engine. This means the engine does not emit any CO2 as the vehicle travels.

“The conventional internal combustion engine is a good candidate for this,” Fedorov told Automotive News Europe. “We simply decarbonize the fuel in a reformer before it reaches the engine. This separates the carbon from the hydrogen.”

Technorati Tags: decarbonsizing, hydrocarbon, fuels, gasoline, methanol, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, atmosphere, CO2, green, engine, energy

The European Environment Agency (EEA) has published in their 2008 annual report that European (EU-27) greenhouse gas emissions have reduced by 7.7% between 1990 and 2006. This quite positively assures that if the EU stays on track, the Kyoto target of a reduction of 20% by 2020 will definitely be reached. The EU-15 countries however, have only had a reduction of 2.2% in that period.
The report gives detail of each country’s levels and the reason for reductions, summarized to be primarily a reduction of nitrous oxide production in chemical plants.

The Lieberman-Warner bill which is scheduled for consideration by the American Senate this month is likely to be the greatest step into creating a worldwide emissions trading scheme. The bill will cap US greenhouse gas emissions at about 30 per cent of their current level by 2050 and an emissions trading scheme will be at the centre of the reduction effort, according to an article in Ethical Corporation.

“Republican presidential candidate John McCain is the strongest endorser of Lieberman-Warner. In October 2007, he said he was “bitterly disappointed” by US inaction on climate change so far. “The Europeans implemented a cap-and-trade system; they stumbled and had their problems but it is still the right thing to do,” he said.

Peter Liese, a German centre-right member of the European Parliament, says a US scheme, which could be up and running by 2012, is crucial both for the establishment of cap-and-trade worldwide, and for a global agreement on greenhouse gas reduction targets after 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol expires.

The US coming on board will be “a very important signal for all other countries; nobody will have an excuse any more,” says Liese, who is in charge of steering through the European parliament the EU legislation that includes aviation in emissions trading.

General Electric Co and Schlumberger, an oilfield services company have joined forces to sequester CO2 on a large scale, according to an article in Reuters.

“The accord is the first global pact on C02 linking an energy technology provider and an oil industry company, Diarmaid Mulholland, regional general manager for GE’s energy services in Europe, told Reuters.

“It’s more of a long-term alliance. It’s going to take a number of years for this really to get up and going,” he said. Sequestration calls for capturing CO2, a gas blamed for global warming, and injecting into the earth.

The pact calls for GE to provide integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) systems to capture CO2 from coal-fired plants. Schlumberger will furnish expertise and management for storing CO2 at least a kilometre (0.6 mile) underground.“

Technorati Tags: General Electric, Schlumberger, sequester, CO2, energy, GE, Sequestration, global warming

Businesses in San Francisco are the first in the USA to pay a carbon-tax, according to this report in the LA Times.

“Air pollution regulators in the San Francisco Bay area voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to approve new rules that impose fees on businesses for emitting greenhouse gasses.  The Bay Area Air Quality Management District’s board of directors voted 15-1 to charge companies 4.4 cents per ton of carbon dioxide they emit, an agency spokeswoman said.

Experts say the fees, which cover nine counties in the Bay Area, are the first of their kind in the country. The new rules are set to take effect July 1.  The modest fee probably won’t be enough to force companies to reduce their emissions, but backers say it sets an important precedent in combating climate change and could serve as a model for regional air districts nationwide.”

Technorati Tags: carbon-tax, greenhouse gasses, carbon dioxide, emissions, climate change