Greenhouse Gas Mitigation and the status of The FutureGen Zero Emission CoalPower Plant:Opportunities for International Participation

摘要

Growing concerns over carbon dioxide emissions from using fossil fuels combined withrnthe continual need to produce more energy have highlighted the need to addressrnmitigation of greenhouse gas emissions in the earth’s atmosphere. The U.S. Departmentrnof Energy’s fossil energy research program is focused on the development of advancedrntechnology that can make the prospects for zero-emission fossil fuel power plants arnreality in the foreseeable future. In order to achieve that goal, the engineering, economic,rnand environmental viability of fossil-based energy systems with zero emissions must bernvalidated. This article will present an overview of some of the United States’ efforts inrnthe area of greenhouse gas mitigation, and will focus on the activities of the Departmentrnof Energy’s Office of Clean Coal. In particular, the FutureGen Initiative will bernpresented and explained. The FutureGen Initiative is an ambitious project that aims torncreate the world’s first “zero emission” fossil fuel power plant, which produces electricityrnand hydrogen fuel from coal with almost zero emissions of carbon dioxide into thernearth’s atmosphere. FutureGen will be a first-of-a-kind international test facility thatrnseeks to remove the environmental concerns over the use of coal. The aim of thernFutureGen plant is to establish the technical and economic feasibility of co-producingrnelectricity and hydrogen from coal, a low-cost and abundant energy resource, whilerncapturing and sequestering the carbon dioxide generated in the process. The ultimaternsuccess of FutureGen, however, depends on broad acceptance of the concept ofrnsequestration by many stakeholder groups, including the coal-based industries that will bernmost heavily impacted by potential future limitations on carbon emissions. Towards thatrnend, the US Department of Energy has structured the FutureGen project to includernsignificant partnering from two key groups: the private coal sector comprised of majorrncoal utility and coal producing companies, and the international community. Coal utilityrnand coal producing companies will participate in FutureGen by membership in arn“FutureGen consortium” which will operate the FutureGen facility and eventuallyrnreplicate the technology. Foreign governments may participate in FutureGen throughrncost-sharing with the U.S. Government through a variety of mechanisms includingrnexisting or new international cooperative agreements. This article will provide the statusrnof FutureGen and describe the benefits as well as the various mechanisms forrninternational participation in this project. Participants who cost-share in the FutureGenrnproject can garner significant benefits. The opportunities for foreign governments tornparticipate in FutureGen will be explained in detail.