Environmental Valuation & Cost-Benefit News

Link: http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=carbon-capture-success-in-wisconsin-2009-05-20

Capturing the carbon dioxide ... has been identified by everyone from President Obama to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as a critical technology to ... combat ... climate change. And now there has been yet another successful demonstration that the technology to capture that CO2 from flue gas might actually work: chilled ammonia can capture more than 88 percent of the greenhouse gas before it goes up the smokestack.

Alstom Power and We Energies have released preliminary data on their carbon capture pilot project at Pleasant Prairie, Wisc. The pilot plant, ... captured it in a more than 99 percent pure form, according to Robert Hilton, vice president of power technologies and government affairs at Alstom...

So far the project has run some 4,600 hours continuously without issue and captured some 18,000 tons of CO2 over the last year.

... Alstom didn’t do anything with the CO2, which in the future would either be sold to industrial users for carbonated beverages or oil recovery or pumped deep underground for permanent storage....

A similar demonstration project using Alstom's chilled ammonia at AEP's Mountaineer power plant in West Virginia this fall aims to be the first to put together the full package....

The company plans to have the chilled ammonia technology available for sale by 2015.

... Employing such technology uses up much of the energy produced by burning the coal in the first place. Although Alstom declined to give exact figures, Hilton claimed the process used up less than 25 percent of the electricity produced: "We expect chilled ammonia to be in the low 20s."

... Capturing that CO2 will cost between $50 and $90 per metric ton, though Hilton believes that scaling up the process and refining it will reduce that cost to as little as $20 per ... ton. ...

The company is also developing amine scrubbers as well as pilot projects in Europe of ... oxyfuel combustion—burning coal....

By David Biello
FOR FULL STORY GO TO:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=carbon-capture-success-in-wisconsin-2009-05-20
Scientific American 60-Second Science Blog www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science
May 20, 2009

Link: http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/19/green-roofs-are-they-worth-the-expense/

Richard M. Daley, the mayor of Chicago, told a panel at the Harvard Club of New York on Monday that he aims to make his city the “most environmentally friendly city in the world.”

A key part of Mr. Daley’s vision involves “green roofs” — the idea of putting plants, and even a few trees, on top of buildings. Chicago already has more than 600 “green roofs,”...

As well as giving workers from surrounding skyscrapers something pleasant to gaze at, green roofs help keep the city cool, and also filter stormwater....

New York has a few green roofs, but it has not prioritized them in the way that Chicago has (or Toronto, which is thinking of making green roofs mandatory for some new buildings).

The reason is cost, said Carter Strickland, a senior policy adviser in New York City’s long-range planning and sustainability office. “We found that street trees are more cost-effective than green roofs,”...

New York City is also emphasizing “white” or “cool” roofs, with the ability to reflect rather than absorb the sun’s heat. Green roofs, Mr. Strickland said, might cost $25 to $30 a square foot; “cool” roof would cost “a fraction of that,”....

There are other impediments in New York — including a tough permitting process. Miquela Craytor, the executive director of Sustainable South Bronx, said that it took her organization two years to install a “green wall.”
...
By Kate Galbraith
FOR FULL POST GO TO:
http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/19/green-roofs-are-they-worth-the-expense/
The New York Times Green Inc. Blog http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com
May 19, 2009

Link: http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/Press%20Releases%20By%20Date

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 has issued a proposed cleanup plan for the Laufen International facility at 10233 Sandyville Road S.E., in East Sparta, Ohio. The public is invited to provide written comments on the plan until June 1.

The $7 million proposed cleanup, required by a 2005 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act consent agreement between EPA and Laufen International will address lead and zinc containment on 15.4 acres where U.S. Ceramic Tile previously managed waste tile and waste water sludge.

The plan calls for soil and sediment removal with offsite disposal, and protective covers to eliminate exposure. The metals contamination has affected soil, surface water and sediment. Ponds and drainageways on the property are also part of the cleanup.

An EPA "Statement of Basis document that provides a summary of the environmental contamination investigation and identifies remedies proposed to clean up the site is available at http://www.epa.gov/reg5rcra/wptdiv/permits/actions.htm#2009

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) www.EPA.gov
http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/d0cf6618525a9efb85257359003fb69d/405c6387d6c5713e852575ac0056c113!OpenDocument>
Press Release dated May 4, 2009

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/us/09coal.html

...
Renee Daniels-Hanner, 48, an office manager who lives with her husband, a postal employee, and their teenage daughter in a three-bedroom brick home in the city’s Baden neighborhood.
...
The house, built in 1953, has central air-conditioning, ... a double-door refrigerator, a washer and dryer, six televisions, three computers and an iron.... The family’s monthly electric bill averages $160 in winter and $250 in summer.

From the wheat fields of the north-central region to Kansas City’s necklace of industrial parks to the brick street fronts of St. Louis, Missouri’s reliance on cheap electricity is deeply ingrained.

But few pay attention to the origin of their little-noticed savings: 21 coal-fired power plants that emit more than 75 million tons of carbon dioxide annually and generate 80 percent of Missouri’s electricity. ... The idea of federal climate legislation that could increase electricity bills by putting a price on emissions of heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide is unsettling.
...
Nebraska, Indiana and Iowa are also states where coal turns on most of the lights.

That is why, even before Representatives Henry A. Waxman of California and Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts, both Democrats, proposed legislation that would put a price on carbon-dioxide emissions, Senate and House Democrats from coal-using states began to push back.
...
Here in Missouri, economic incentives built into the state’s laws, history and habits encourage burning as much coal as possible. Trainloads of Wyoming coal cross Missouri daily.

The cars arrive at places like Meramec, a 56-year-old, 850-megawatt power plant in south St. Louis County. The cost of building the sprawling plant has long since been paid off by its owner, AmerenUE, an investor-owned utility. Because Meramec generates electricity from cheap fuel, it produces cheap power. And because Meramec’s operational costs are low and most equipment-replacement costs have been recouped, AmerenUE often underbids competitors in selling excess electricity out of state. These profits give Missouri consumers an extra discount. From 1987 to 2007, AmerenUE and its predecessor, Union Electric, did not raise electric rates, while power production rose about 65 percent.

Estimates of the effects of the proposed federal climate legislation on electric rates vary. The central thrust of the Waxman-Markey bill is to make carbon-dioxide emissions expensive by capping them and creating allowances that utilities must acquire to function.

In Washington, the measure is seen as a starting point and has little Republican support, which would make the backing of coal-state Democrats like Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri critical.

Jaime Haro, AmerenUE’s director of asset management and trading, said his company paid $30 to produce a megawatt-hour of electricity. The coal burned emits roughly a ton of carbon dioxide. If federal legislation effectively prices emissions at $30 a ton — estimates have varied from $20 to $115 — “my costs could double,” Mr. Haro said.

Those costs probably would be passed on to customers.

For now, Missouri ranks among the lowest five states in retail electricity rates — about 6.3 cents per kilowatt hour, compared with a national average of 8.9 cents.

,,, LaVerne McCoy ... has spent $4,000 weatherizing her split-level home.... Her bills still average $320 monthly.

... Wendi and .... Lee Wood ... live ... with their three teenagers. Their six-bedroom house is four years old, and they, too, have many appliances, including seven televisions.

Electricity costs them about $280 in winter, $360 in summer. After the fall harvest, they dry grain in a silo; then the bills run $600 a month.
...
By Felicity Barringer
FOR FULL STORY GO TO:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/us/09coal.html
The New York Times www.nytimes.com
Published: April 8, 2009

Link: http://www.valero.com/NewsRoom/NewsReleases/NR_2009-03-18.htm

Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO) announced today that its bid to buy ethanol plants from VeraSun Energy Corporation (OTC BB: VSUNQ) has been accepted by the bankruptcy court overseeing the assets’ auction.

In addition to the five plants and a sixth site under development in Valero’s original bid, the bankruptcy court approved Valero’s purchase of two additional ethanol plants from VeraSun. Together, the plants have an annual production capacity of 780 million gallons. The aggregate purchase price of $477 million represented approximately 30 percent of the plants’ replacement cost. The purchase price excludes working capital and inventory currently estimated at approximately $75 million....

As North America’s largest petroleum refining and marketing company, Valero is a leading buyer of ethanol for blending in its gasoline, and its purchase of the plants will give Valero a dedicated supply of ethanol.

The purchase of the plants in the original bid – in Charles City, Fort Dodge and Hartley, Iowa; Aurora, S.D.; Welcome, Minn.; and the site under development in Reynolds, Ind. – is expected to close on April 1. The purchase of the additional plants – in Albion, Neb. and Albert City, Iowa – is expected to close shortly afterward, subject to regulatory approval. Valero plans to operate all of the plants through its subsidiaries.
...
This is Valero’s initial entry into ethanol production, but it has made investments in other alternative energy companies in recent months. Valero has also completed the first phase of a wind farm near its McKee Refinery in the Texas Panhandle that when complete will generate 50 megawatts of electricity. In 2008, Valero established an Alternative Energy and Project Development Group to explore opportunities in alternative and renewable energy sources.

The Valero purchase of an ethanol plant is the first by a traditional refiner...

Valero competed with Archer Daniels Midland in an auction, and the purchase was approved at a Delaware bankruptcy hearing.... Valero originally entered an agreement to buy five plants for $280 million last month, contingent on the auction. The price Valero paid for the plants — in South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and Indiana — is a fraction of what it would cost to build new ones.

“It’s a good deal for Valero because they have to have ethanol in their blend mandated by the federal government,” said Chris Ruppel, an energy analyst at Execution, a Connecticut brokerage firm. “Ethanol is still a lousy business, but if you can buy the plants for cents on the dollar, it looks a lot better as Washington is likely to keep mandated production targets.”

VeraSun, like many ethanol companies, has suffered financially in recent months after committing to buy corn last year at high prices. Those prices have since dropped sharply. In the meantime, ethanol prices have declined along with gasoline since last summer.

The ethanol industry is expected to produce about 10 billion gallons this year, leaving much of the industry’s capacity of 12.5 billion gallons idle.

Only a year ago, ethanol appeared to be the transportation fuel of the future. Congress had mandated the doubling of corn ethanol use, to 15 billion gallons by 2015....
...
Congress set a target of using 21 billion gallons of advanced biofuels by the year 2022, a goal some energy experts say will be difficult to reach unless the economy grows robustly over the next several years.

The ethanol industry is now pressing the Obama administration to raise the 10 percent blend limit in most gasoline blends to as high as 15 percent....

Valero Energy Corporation www.valero.com
Press release dated March 18, 2009
and
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/19/business/energy-environment/19ethanol.html?_r=1
Valero Energy, the Oil Refiner, Wins an Auction for 7 Ethanol Plants
By Clifford Krauss
Published: March 18, 2009
The New York Times www.NYTimes.com

Link: http://www.csrwire.com/News/14759.html

Created to eliminate single-use plastic from drycleaning in the same way smaller totes do for groceries, The Green Garmento is [also]...improving drycleaners' revenue....

Green Apple Cleaners ... recently purchased 1,000 personalized Garmentos. As Green Apple president Chris Skelley explains, "These bags work for everyone. The hamper and duffel bag features are great for our customers, the side zipper makes it easy for our staff and the logo gives us an advertising presence...."

According to Victor Seyedin, owner of Lake City Cleaners, Chicago ... "In 2008 I spent over $35,000 protecting my clients' clothes. And each year these costs have increased. For $15,000, I can replace my single use bags, garment covers and route bags with Green Garmentos, then next year invest only $5,000 in replacement bags and for new customers."

While the potential to save up to 40% in the first year and 80% every year thereafter is attractive, the program only works because of consumer enthusiasm. Bobby Sperling of Brentwood Royal Cleaners in Brentwood, California says, "Our customers love them. The Green Garmento complements our determination to be 'green' and having a stylish alternative gives us a major competitive advantage."

...Every drycleaner that transitions to The Green Garmento eliminates five to ten thousand pounds of plastic otherwise headed for our landfills. And this change is not just domestic, but global: Nigrosh reports distributor inquiries from around the world. "Already we have a distributor in Singapore and are speaking with potential distributors in Australia, Mexico, Uruguay, throughout Europe and even Botswana. We have a simple goal: to have a sustainable business that helps make a more sustainable world."

About The Green Garmento
The first eco-friendly 3-in-1 reusable drycleaning bag designed as a hanging hamper, duffel bag and protective hanging garment bag. Intended to help eliminate the estimated 300 million pounds of single use drycleaning plastic bags wasted annually in the US, it is available in a variety of colors and sizes, is customizable and retails for $9.99.

Corporate Social Responsibility Newswire CSRwire www.csrwire.com
March 9, 2009
Also see www.GreenGarmento.com