{"id":327802,"date":"2024-05-11T16:33:11","date_gmt":"2024-05-11T14:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=327802"},"modified":"2024-05-11T16:33:13","modified_gmt":"2024-05-11T14:33:13","slug":"the-cost-of-epas-senseless-co2-capture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=327802","title":{"rendered":"The Cost of EPA\u2019s Senseless CO2 Capture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

by Frits Byron Soepyan<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In April 24, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) passed a new rule<\/a> that would require coal power plants that plan to continue operating after January 1, 2039, and new natural gas power plants that plan to begin operation on or after 2035 to capture<\/a> at least 90% of their CO2<\/sub> emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How much would this cost? And is it worth it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, as they say, we ran the numbers. Thankfully, researchers from the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) have provided the cost and performance estimates for retrofitting<\/a> an existing coal power plant with Shell\u2019s CANSOLV CO2<\/sub> capture system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the performance and cost estimates, I will use the NETL estimates for 90% carbon capture. (Here, I am using the term \u201ccarbon capture,\u201d rather than \u201cCO2<\/sub> capture,\u201d because NETL uses the mass of carbon, rather than the mass of CO2<\/sub>, in its calculations.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the retrofit, NETL\u2019s baseline coal power plant had a net output of 650 megawatts (MW). But after retrofitting it with the CO2<\/sub> capture system, the power output was reduced by 24% to 495 MW. In terms of money, the retrofit cost is about $988 million, or about $2 million\/MW of net power output.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do these numbers mean for the United States?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on the U.S. Energy Information Administration<\/a>, as of March 2024, the United States has 148 coal power plants in operation in the electric utility sector, with an average capacity of about 139,000 MW. Of these, 36 plants plan to retire completely on or before December 2040 and 8 plants plan to retire at least one steam turbine on or before December 2034, but not entirely. Taking the difference of 148 and 36, there are 112 coal power plants in the United States without any planned retirement year, having a total average capacity of about 96,000 MW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using the NETL estimates, if we were to retrofit these 112 coal power plants to enable 90% carbon capture, the 24% net power output reduction would bring electricity production down to about 73,000 MW. Applying the retrofit cost of about $2 million\/MW of net power output to the plants\u2019 reduced power output, we arrive at a projected cost of about $146 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep in mind, these estimates are only for coal power plants. We haven\u2019t even gotten to retrofitting natural gas power plans<\/a>, nor have we addressed the cost of replacing the tens of thousands of megawatts lost in the 24% production decrease of converted plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And what about constructing brand new natural gas power plants? How much would that cost?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, we turn to NETL for the estimates<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using NETL\u2019s baseline natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) power plant, the numbers provided by NETL include a cost of about $1.05 billion to construct a new 992 MW plant without CO2<\/sub> capture and a cost of about $1.87 billion to construct a new 883 MW plant with 90% carbon capture. In other words, the 78% plant cost increase comes with an 11% net power output reduction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, we clearly are talking about a lot of money to remove most of the carbon dioxide from our American power plants fueled by fossil fuels. But is spending the extra money to capture CO2<\/sub> worth it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on the analysis<\/a> performed using the Model for the Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Induced Climate Change (MAGICC<\/a>), theoretically, if the United States ceased all CO2<\/sub> emissions in 2010, the amount of warming averted would be only about 0.07 \u00b0F by 2050 and 0.19 \u00b0F by 2100. Such a temperature difference is negligible and can hardly be felt or measured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, in the United States in 2022, the CO2<\/sub> emissions<\/a> from coal and natural gas amounted to about 0.93 and 1.74 billion metric tons, respectively, for a total of 2.67 billion metric tons. However, the total CO2<\/sub> emissions from fossil fuels and industrial processes amounted to 5.06 billion metric tons. This means that the CO2<\/sub> emissions from coal and natural gas contributed to only about 53% of the total emissions. Therefore, the temperature rise averted by stopping all CO2<\/sub> emissions from burning coal and natural gas becomes even smaller compared to the above estimates from MAGICC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, besides being expensive and futile, keep in mind: Plants need CO2<\/sub><\/a>, along with sunlight, water, and nutrients from the soil to produce oxygen and food, both of which are essential for all living beings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, higher concentrations of CO2<\/sub> have enabled an increase in the growth, food production, water-use efficiency and drought resistance of plants<\/a>, as well as the greening of Earth, as confirmed by NASA<\/a>. According to NASA<\/a>, 70% of this greening is attributed to \u201cfertilization\u201d by CO2<\/sub>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the critical role CO2<\/sub> plays in driving plant and crop growth, is spending over a hundred billion dollars to remove it from the air sensible? We think not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frits Byron Soepyan, a research and science associate at the CO2<\/sub> Coalition, Arlington, Virginia, has a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from The University of Tulsa and has worked as a process systems engineer and a researcher in energy-related projects.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This commentary was first published at Newsmax<\/a> on May 6, 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CO2 Coalition Research and Science Associate\u00a0Frits Byron Soepyan<\/a>\u00a0has a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from The University of Tulsa and has worked as a process systems engineer and a researcher in energy-related projects.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In April 24, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) passed a new rule that would require coal power plants that plan to continue operating after January 1, 2039, and new natural gas power plants that plan to begin operation on or after 2035 to capture at least 90% of their CO2 emissions.<\/p>\n

How much would this cost? And is it worth it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":327804,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818076,691828567,691828566],"class_list":{"0":"post-327802","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-co2","9":"tag-co2-capture-system","10":"tag-u-s-environmental-protection-agency-u-s-epa","12":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0GettyImages-1162106125-c123f3ddc29c4f738b91c08cbaa751fd.jpg?fit=2170%2C1382&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1nh8","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":270382,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=270382","url_meta":{"origin":327802,"position":0},"title":"EPA\u2019s power grid assumptions are disconnected from reality","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"30\/07\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The U.S. power grid is already straining under excess regulations, with\u00a0blackouts possible, but now the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed two more rules that promise to cause even more major problems.","rel":"","context":"In \"Blackouts\"","block_context":{"text":"Blackouts","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=blackouts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/0Blackout-888.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/0Blackout-888.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/0Blackout-888.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/0Blackout-888.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/0Blackout-888.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":282674,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=282674","url_meta":{"origin":327802,"position":1},"title":"Electric Grid Reliability: Texas vs. EPA","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"10\/10\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"A Home Depot parking lot is covered in snow in the Westbury neighborhood, Monday, Feb. 15, 2021, in Houston. From \u00a0Master Resource By Ed Ireland \u201cJust the possibility that EPA will enact such sweeping regulations will slow investment in new power generation that all U.S. power grids need. Recent grid\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"CO2\"","block_context":{"text":"CO2","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=co2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/00rawImage.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/00rawImage.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/00rawImage.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/00rawImage.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/00rawImage.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":257019,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=257019","url_meta":{"origin":327802,"position":2},"title":"EPA proposes emissions standards that could kill coal, and cripple gas OFFICIAL EPA RELEASE","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"12\/05\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"As China and India build coal plants as fast as their economies will go, the Biden Administration released plans to require carbon capture using unaffordable technology that does not really exist.\u00a0 Will this carbon power grab survive judicial review?\u00a0","rel":"","context":"In \"CCS\"","block_context":{"text":"CCS","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=ccs"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/00fairfaxphotos-Coal.webp?fit=1140%2C758&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/00fairfaxphotos-Coal.webp?fit=1140%2C758&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/00fairfaxphotos-Coal.webp?fit=1140%2C758&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/00fairfaxphotos-Coal.webp?fit=1140%2C758&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/00fairfaxphotos-Coal.webp?fit=1140%2C758&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":261234,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=261234","url_meta":{"origin":327802,"position":3},"title":"Real Contenders: Coal & Gas-Fired Power Still Dominate America\u2019s Electricity\u00a0Grid","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"08\/06\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The same wind and solar-obsessed ideology that wrecked Germany\u2019s power supply is on clear display in the USA.","rel":"","context":"In \"Biden Administration\"","block_context":{"text":"Biden Administration","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=biden-administration"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0JWayneLeonardPowerStation-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0JWayneLeonardPowerStation-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0JWayneLeonardPowerStation-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0JWayneLeonardPowerStation-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0JWayneLeonardPowerStation-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":329677,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=329677","url_meta":{"origin":327802,"position":4},"title":"The Cost of EPA\u2019s Senseless CO\u2082 Capture","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"22\/05\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"In April 24, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency passed a new rule that would require coal power plants that plan to continue operating after January 1, 2039, and new natural gas power plants that plan to begin operation on or after 2035 to capture at least 90% of their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"CO2\"","block_context":{"text":"CO2","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=co2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0stop-co2_166359508_m.jpg?fit=1200%2C816&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0stop-co2_166359508_m.jpg?fit=1200%2C816&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0stop-co2_166359508_m.jpg?fit=1200%2C816&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0stop-co2_166359508_m.jpg?fit=1200%2C816&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0stop-co2_166359508_m.jpg?fit=1200%2C816&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":280897,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=280897","url_meta":{"origin":327802,"position":5},"title":"Biden\u2019s Mad Dog EPA Gone\u00a0Rogue","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"28\/09\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"EPA\u2019s most egregious\u00a0failure to properly account for costs is that it\u00a0subtracts the amount of federal subsidies from the cost estimate, a nominal reduction of $369 billion based on CBO\u2019s score. That figure will likely turn out to be much greater, given the subsidies\u2019 lack of date-certain sunset.","rel":"","context":"In \"2015 Clean Power Plan\"","block_context":{"text":"2015 Clean Power Plan","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=2015-clean-power-plan"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/00environmental-protection.jpg?fit=1024%2C724&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/00environmental-protection.jpg?fit=1024%2C724&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/00environmental-protection.jpg?fit=1024%2C724&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/00environmental-protection.jpg?fit=1024%2C724&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=327802"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":327806,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327802\/revisions\/327806"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/327804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=327802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=327802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=327802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}