In the ongoing battle to improve the way we manage CO2 emissions, some scientists at MIT proposed a unique system that uses solid oxide fuels to produce power from fuel without burning it. Using existing technology, they would be able to provide electricity with zero carbon emissions, at a cost comparable or less than current natural gas plants.

Post-doctoral associate Thomas Adams and Paul I. Barton, the Lammont du Pont Professor of Chemical Engineering joined forces and found a way to combine existing components with under developed technology and shape it into a novel configuration that illicits electricity with zero carbon emissions. It runs on natural gas, which is more environmentally friendly than coal or oil. This system would emit a stream of pure carbon dioxide that could be stored underground using carbon capture and sequestration (CCS).

Adams also said that their fuel-cell based system produces clean water that could easily be treated to provide potable water as a side benefit.

Some Clear Obstacles to Success

One challenge is that the duo is not sure if the technology can compete with conventional power plants. The second challenge is their price point is only truly competitive if the government sets a price on the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

The current pending legislation on carbon pricing is the Waxman-Markey “American Clean Energy and Security Act” passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in July of this year, through its “cap and trade” provisions. (A corresponding bill has not yet reached the floor of the U.S. Senate.) If this program becomes law, the actual price per ton of carbon emission would vary, determined through the free market.

According to the MITnews, “Natural gas accounts for 22 percent of all U.S. electricity production, and is likely to rise if carbon prices are put into effect.” Carbon legislation makes  the zero emissions technology a more competitive option, as its able to produce electricity from natural gas at a similar price to coal without the side effects.

With some form of carbon pricing (which takes into account the true price exacted on the environment by greenhouse gas emissions), Adams says, their technology can be “competitive at a price point of $15 per metric ton of emitted carbon dioxide.”

And a few more…

Some additional obstacles I see right off are consumption.  If natural gas consumption continues at current rates, there are only 60 years worth of fuel left. That does not seem like an extraordinary amount to work with, and if this technology takes off, won’t we be consuming even more of it at a faster rate?

I am also unsure sure how safe it is to be storing all this carbon underground. What does that do the land and surrounding ecosystems? What are the true ramifications of technology like this?

What are the Predictions?

According to Adams, this new system’s predicted efficiency is so high it beats the life cycle cost of a combined-cycle natural gas plant, even without carbon pricing. The study recently done by Adams and Barton also shows that a very low level of carbon tax ($5 to $10 per ton) would make their technology cheaper than coal plants, which are currently the lowest cost option for electricity generation.

All this is well and good, but there are a lot of “what ifs” that need to come together for this to even be considered viable, or better yet, a good option.

I am still pretty skeptical about this approach to working with natural gas, and I think there are others who may feel the same. This technology may be appropriate if used on a small scale in some specific situations, but as a larger market power producing option for the masses, it doesn’t seem like the best alternative.

Common sense will tell you solar power is difficult to garner once the sun goes down. Well, new California-based company SolarReserve wants to change that by developing technology known as the “holy grail” of solar power – a power plant that continues producing electricity well after the sun has set, 24 hours a day.

The Rice Solar Energy Project (RSEP) created by SolarReserve (run by a team of rocket scientists previously from Rocketdyne) includes plans for a 150-megawatt solar farm that will generate and store up to seven hours’ worth of the sun’s energy in the form of molten salt. The heat from the salt can be released when its cloudy or at night to create steam that drives and electricity-generating turbine, according to the New York Times.

RSEP will be located on a privately owned site in unincorporated eastern Riverside County, California. Land surrounding the project site in the Sonoran Desert east of Palm Springs consists mostly of undeveloped open desert owned by the federal government and managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

The plant will be capable of producing approximately 450,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of renewable energy annually, with a nominal net generating capacity of 150 megawatts (MW). That is enough to power 100,000 homes per day. RSEP will also be able to “generate steady and uninterrupted power during hours of peak electricity demand,” according to SolarReserve’s license application.

How the Solar Plant Works

The application also states that as many as 17,500 large mirrors — each one 24 feet by 28 feet — will be attached to 12-foot pedestals. The mirrors, called heliostats that concentrate the sun’s heat, will be arrayed in a circle around a 538-foot concrete tower.

Atop the tower will sit a 100-foot receiver filled with 4.4 million gallons of liquid salt. The heliostats will focus the sun on the receiver, heating the salt to 1,050 degrees Fahrenheit. The liquefied salt flows through a steam-generating system to drive the turbine and is returned to the receiver to be heated again.

By using salt for both steam and storage, SolarReserve can generate higher-temperature steam, which will allow the Rice power plant to operate much more efficiently, according to Kevin Smith, SolarReserve’s chief executive. “Consequently, our system can capture three times the energy for the same pound of salt.”

If all goes according to plan, the RESP solar farm will go online in October 2013.

Salt, a New Energy Resource

Who knew salt would be such a viable and practical resource to harness the power of solar-sourced energy? More importantly, this extremely unique approach sounds like an out of the box option, when there is still a very heated debate about oil vs. nuclear vs. wind power vs. everything else.

If this solution can prove an effective model for energy creation, can we can add it for serious consideration into the bigger picture of energy generation? I think its a pretty strong and unique contender for energy on demand. Clean, renewable and reduces carbon impact – ultimately turning the sun into the solution. Their words, not mine, but I couldn’t have said it any better.

Katrina Pfannkuch
Buzzword Communications, LLC

About the author: Katrina Pfannkuch is a writer, Reiki Master and entrepreneur who lives to write and create. She started Buzzword Communications to pursue her passion for excellence in communication and satisfy her entrepreneurial spirit.

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