Colorado Green Tech Meetup Blog

Fellow Ecopreneurs, Kevin Geminiuc and I attended the Clean Energy Action (CEA) meeting on Terrestrial Carbon Sequestration yesterday evening. For those of you not familiar with CEA, let me say this is a very effective action group. They (in coalition with other groups) have been instrumental in convincing Xcel to agree to shut down (pending PUC review) 2 coal fired power plants and replace their generating capacity with a large solar concentrating plant in the San Luis Valley.

Leslie Glustrom provided introductory information which included:

1. Snippets of the Colorado Renewable Energy Task Force Report supporting the proposition that CO has wind farm locations that could supply 96GW and solar farm locations that could supply 26GW of electricity. Colorado peak usage is about 12GW. Clearly Colorado has renewable clean generation capacity to supply the state’s needs many times over.

2. That there are several ongoing law suits brought by Clean Energy Action or or individual members against the building of the huge new coal fired plant near Pueblo, CO. I wonder why, with so much potential for alternative energy generation here in CO, we (you, me, and every one else who writes a check to Xcel) spend 1.3 billion on a new coal plant?

More information is available at their site: www.cleanenergyaction.org

*Alison Burchell: Terrestrial Carbon Sequestration*

This is not your father’s Carbon Sequestration!

When I’ve heard of Carbon Sequestration I’ve always thought it was only capturing CO2 emissions and pumping them into the ground or into the oceans. Not so, says Alison, there is another form. The earth itself (terrestrial) consumes carbon out of the atmosphere as it forms carbon crystals in soils and rock formations. Some research suggests that up to a quarter of all carbon going into the atmosphere may be consumed this way. Her research is focused on understanding this phenomena and seeking ways to accelerate it. I wonder, as we get our emissions under control, could we actually reduce atmospheric carbon?

As a counter point, Alison provided extensive information (reports, photos, etc.) on the perils of the ‘old school’ carbon sequestration:

1. no geological formation is without leaks;
2. trial locations thought to be ultimately stable have failed;
3. other proposed sites are dangerously close to tectonic faults, and
4. land-over locations, which have been pumped full of liquid CO2, are upwelling to form large ponds of very toxic water, killing wildlife and domestic animals alike.

It makes one rethink the phrase, “clean coal through sequestration”.

Kris Wiesenfeld