Duke Power CEO: Carbon Capture at least 10 years away

[philb]

Dow Jones & Company, Inc. - Sep 11

The technology to capture carbon-dioxide emissions from a power plant and store them underground is 10 to 15 years away from commercial viability, limiting the power sector's ability to significantly cut emissions in the short to medium term, Duke Energy Corp.'s (DUK) top executive said Tuesday.
“ I think carbon-capture and sequestration technology has been oversold," said Jim Rogers, Duke's chief executive. "I think this is a 15-year process before we can commercially scale this up."
Many see carbon capture and storage as crucial for the industry to reduce its contribution to global warming. American Electric Power Co. Inc. (AEP) and NRG Energy Inc. (NRG) have said they plan to rely on the technology to cut emissions from their coal-burning power plants.
Rogers sounded a more pessimistic note Tuesday at a company meeting for analysts. Duke probably won't build another coal-burning plant in North Carolina or South Carolina after completing a unit at its Cliffside plant, he said. In the next five years, the only new coal plant the company might want to propose would be in Ohio, he said.
Rogers has been a vocal proponent of laws to limit carbon-dioxide emissions. Congress is expected to debate climate-change legislation this fall.
On a separate matter, Rogers said he didn't think the expiration of regulated electric rates in Ohio in 2009 would cause the kind of public backlash against utilities that occurred in Maryland and Illinois. But he acknowledged that risks still exist in 2008, an election year.
"I can't predict the behavior of politicians in an election year," Rogers said. "I'm not that smart."
-By Matthew Dalton, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-4604; matthew.dalton@ dowjones.com
Corrected Tuesday, September 11, 200716:35 ET (20:35 GMT)
On a separate matter, Rogers said he didn't think the expiration of
regulated electric rates in Ohio in 2009 would cause the kind of public
backlash against utilities that occurred in Maryland and Illinois.
("Carbon-Capture Technology At Least 10 Years Away-Duke CEO," published at 4: 06 p.m. EDT misstated the name of the second state being compared to Ohio.)

[losthills]

1. Carbon Sequestration is fraught with problems.

So much so that it should be viewed as an environmental nightmare in the making. If, as they say it's ten years away, then we have ten years to work on stopping it.

The right place for coal to be is in the ground where it belongs. It's time to bring the fossil fuel era to a close, not look for new ways to prolong it. We should insist that no new coal plants be built, no matter what kind of new technology is promised.

It's time to design a sane energy future based on renewables. Pumping liquified carbon into the ground by the ton does not meet the basic test of sanity...

[razzleberry]

2. the US is unlikely to adopt any of this

it just doesn't pay
..............

OTOH, the Europeans might
try somethong in associtation with
their stupid carbon plans

[Massacure]

3. Carbon capture on an industrial scale is probably a bigger pipe dream than nuclear fusion.

Agriculture can be carbon-neutral but industry will be carbon intensive for a while to come.