The Congressional Budget Office reports that carbon capture development hasn't progressed enough to be financially sustainable, despite federal grants of $6.9 billion since 2005, The Washington Post reports.
The energy company 2Co seeks to build the first UK coal-fired power station that employs carbon capture and storage technology on an industrial scale, Bloomberg reports.
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Jeff Bingaman's proposal to create a national clean energy standard won't go far this year but could eventually renew efforts to find a legislative solution to climate change following the failure of cap-and-trade, says Judi Greenwald, Vice President for Technology and Innovation at the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions.
Some 31 states already have renewable or clean energy mandates, and others have voluntary programs. Bingaman's Clean Energy Standard Act of 2012 would extend such a standard to all states in an attempt to meet President Barack Obama's call for a doubling of zero-carbon electricity by 2035.
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Jeff Bingaman wants to know why the Energy Department now predicts that his clean energy bill would not spur carbon capture technology.
Bingaman, D-N.M., has asked the Energy Information Administration to take a second look at its analysis of the Clean Energy Standard Act of 2012 in time for a hearing next Thursday.
Coal would lose out big to nuclear and renewables, while average electricity prices would rise, under the clean energy standard proposed by Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Jeff Bingaman, the Energy Information Administration reported on Wednesday.
The Clean Energy Standard Act by Bingaman, D-N.M., would prompt average electricity prices to rise 4 percent by 2025 and 18 percent by 2035, as generators are forced to add more renewable and nuclear generation, EIA said.
It cautioned, however, that price impacts would vary widely because the bill exempts smaller electric providers.
The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday proposed first-ever carbon pollution rules on new power plants, but left existing plants unregulated for the foreseeable future.
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said the rule was written to build upon the shift in electricity generation to lower-carbon natural gas, and that it would impose no new costs on the power sector.
Backers of the FutureGen clean-coal research project have completed their formal application and now await a decision by the Energy Department.
Spokespersons for the project and the department said the public-private FutureGen Alliance submitted its final application on March 19. Neither would predict when Energy Secretary Steven Chu will decide whether to award $1 billion in federal stimulus money to the Illinois-based demonstration project.
"In the coming weeks, the department will thoroughly review that application and make a decision as soon as possible," department spokeswoman Tiffany Edwards said. She added, "Secretary Chu believes that the FutureGen technology has real merit."
The planned Cape Wind offshore project in Massachusetts won a $200 million commitment from Denmark's public pension fund, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., pledged to push a vote to complete the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste facility in Nevada if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., moves to limit filibusters, Roll Call reports.
The Army Corps of Engineers said it would not conduct a cumulative environmental review of three coal export terminals or consider overseas climate change impact in its reviews, E&E reports.
Legal experts say U.S. natural gas companies could file lawsuits against the Energy Department to speed decisions on liquefied natural gas exports, Reuters reports.
House Appropriations Committee Democrats criticized Republicans for cutting Energy Department spending on renewable energy by 50 percent, The Hill reports.
A communique released at the close of the G8 summit expresses leaders' concerns over climate change and pledges support for a new international climate change treaty in 2015, Business Green reports.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee advanced a bill to open parts of Alaska's Tongass National Forest to timber development, KTOO reports.
