Carbon Tax - France

The French government is working towards implementation of a direct carbon tax by July 2010. On 21 January 2010, the government proposed a number of amendments to the original legislation, which is aimed at encouraging French consumers to be more energy efficient and conscious of their energy decisions.

The tax level remains at 17 EUR per metric tonne of CO₂ at over 1,000 of the most polluting sites. Main innovation of the amended bill is the inclusion of previously excluded sectors, such as power stations, oil refineries, and cement works.

These plants were exempted in the first version of the bill because they are scheduled to be subject to a European Union quota system to be implemented in 2013. EU regulation calls for emissions in those sectors to be reduced by 21% by 2020.

France aims for an 80% reduction in CO₂ emissions by 2050.

France would be the largest economy to apply a direct carbon tax, mirroring existent measures in Denmark, Sweden and Finland.

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CO2 Sequestration - Leading Research, Austin

Carbon capture and sequestration is currently the most extensively studied and well understood method for reducing CO₂ emissions from large point sources. Various technologies have been developed to capture and sequester CO₂ from power plants and other emission sources.

Carbon capturing technologies varies from conventional post-combustion carbon scrubbing units to oxy-fuel combustion and chemical looping combustion which are newly investigated territories.

The sequestration stage of the process has been the most debated part of the CCS topic. This is mainly due to concerns with CO₂ leakage from the sequestration sites over time.

Research and testing of the sequestration technologies to reduce the risk of leakage is one of the key components of the development and implementation of CCS processes.

One of the main spot for CO₂ sequestration research is here in Austin, TX. The University of Texas at Austin has received a 10-year, $38 million subcontract to conduct the first intensively monitored, long-term project in the United States studying the feasibility of injecting a large volume of carbon dioxide”.

This project focuses mainly on geo-sequestration technologies for CO₂ in brine reservoirs.

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Carbon Capture and Obama

The article titled” Making of a Clean Coal President” analyses the future action likely to be taken by the President.

Three factors have cemented Obama's support for carbon capture and sequestration technology: political necessity, economic opportunity and the backing of some of the most powerful mainstream environmental organizations operating inside the Beltway.

He ordered a high-level task force to deliver a plan within 180 days determining how "to overcome barriers to the widespread, cost-effective deployment of CCS within 10 years, with the goal of bringing 5 to 10 commercial demonstration projects on line by 2016."

In August of this year, he'll be handed a plan for a massive expansion of clean coal from the task force he constituted , and he may be able to use it to help Democrats in November mid-term elections, as well as in the run-up to his own re-election bid in 2012. Sure to be of value is the ongoing $120 million ad campaign from the coal lobby that is coincidentally airing new spots for clean coal .

In his State of Union message, in the paragraph devoted to clean energy innovation, he omitted solar and wind and instead listed nuclear energy, biofuels, clean coal and offshore drilling. It set off howls of protest, which he calmed a few days later by announcing that the federal government would reduce its own emissions 28% by 2020.

Obama's support for CCS has been consistent.

Further, with China already leading the world in the export of solar and wind hardware, CCS offers the prospect of being an exportable big ticket advanced technology that even the Chinese will want to buy.

With Obama's unequivocal support of clean coal, his EPA — thanks to a 2007 Supreme Court ruling on the Clean Air Act — is now the last thing standing in the way of open season for the coal industry to expand without concern for carbon regulation.

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Algae Based Carbon Capture

Algae live on a high concentration of carbon dioxide and nitrogen dioxide -- pollutants that are released by automobiles, cement plants, breweries, fertilizer plants, steel plants.

Using algae for reducing the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere is known as algae - based Carbon Capture technology. The algae production facilities can thus be fed with the exhaust gases from these plants to significantly increase the algal productivity and clean up the air.

About 1.8 tons of CO2 are required for producing one ton of algae. A coal power plant produces about 1 ton of CO2 for every MWh of energy produced. An additional benefit from this technology is that the oil found in algae can be processed into a biodiesel.

Advantages of algae based carbon capture are discussed - namely high purity of co2 not required, simplifies process of flue gas scrubbing, microalgae yields high value commercial products that offsets operation cost of process.

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