Welcome to your Friday Rundown for the week ending Sept. 21. Feedback is always welcome at info@clearpathaction.org.
MAKING CARBON A CLEAN COMMODITY
ClearPath and the Carbon Utilization Research Council, with support from the mine workers and other unions, recently came out with a study forecasting some really big benefits that underscore the economic promise of using captured carbon from power plants for enhanced oil recovery: up to 780,000 new jobs and $190 billion in added GDP by 2040.
Sound too good to be true?
Well it probably does – until you hear that market-driven capture is already taking place – and has been for nearly half a century in the United States and it all originated in Texas.
ClearPath’s carbon capture captain Justin Ong explains:
The Energy Department announced $120 million over five years to renew the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR), a non-lithium ion battery storage research consortium led by Argonne National Laboratory comprised of national lab experts, academia and private-sector entrepreneurs. The purpose is to spur “long-duration” energy storage projects that can provide up to 100 hours of power.
DOE also announced 10 projects that will receive $28 million as part of ARPA-E’s DAYS program that also is aimed at developing energy storage systems that can provide power to the electric grid for up to 100 hours.
CRITICAL CLEAN ENERGY DIRECTION, INVESTMENTS BECOME LAW
President Trump today is set to sign into law critical programmatic direction and eagle-eyed investments in advanced nuclear, carbon capture, grid-scale storage and other clean energy technologies that Congress approved last week in the FY19 Department of Energy spending bill.
GET READY FOR NATIONAL CLEAN ENERGY WEEK
Get ready for the second annual National Clean Energy Week, spearheaded by Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions and co-sponsored by ClearPath and others.
The week-long spotlight on clean and reliable energy technologies includes a number of official and side events.
That includes a Sept. 26 policymakers symposium featuring senior Trump administration officials, members of Congress and experts from ClearPath and elsewhere. Among those slated to speak: DOE Under Secretary for Energy Mark Menezes, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Lisa Murkowski, Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.), FERC Commissioner Neil Chatterjee and ClearPath Executive Director Rich Powell.
The next evening, Sept. 27, CRES will host a ceremony on Capitol Hill honoring several GOP champions, including Murkowski, Reed, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.).
Also on Thursday, ClearPath’s nuclear guru Spencer Nelson participates in a discussion hosted by R Street on “Bringing 21st-Century Innovation and Reform to the U.S. Nuclear Industry.”
BIG U.S. OIL JOINS CLIMATE COALITION
ExxonMobil, Chevron and Occidental Petroleum became the first U.S.-based oil companies to join a coalition of oil and gas producers aimed at mitigating climate change, including using carbon capture for enhanced oil recovery. The Oil and Gas Climate Initiative also includes Saudi Aramco, Shell, BP and several others.
WHAT WE’RE READING
Chairman Murkowski in a Washington Examiner op-ed lays out the case for the U.S. to step up its advanced nuclear game.
Rainey Center Co-Founder and CEO Sarah Hunt has a sharp and succinct take in Axios on why NetPower’s zero-emissions carbon capture demo plant can be a clean energy breakthrough.
