A carbon capture and storage facility has been built at the Schwarze Pumpe coal-fired power plant in Germany. The facility is built as a test to see how well the technology work and will be ran as a pilot project over 3 years. Another test facility will be built in France next year.

The carbon capture and storage facility uses a technique where coal is burned in pure oxygen and CO2 instead of regular air. This results is a by product of almost pure CO2 that can be collected and stored underground. The test facility in Germany is expected to capture up to 100,000 tons of CO2 each year. The CO2 is to be stored in a nearby gas field. The power plant the new carbon capture and storage facility has been built at produces 12 MW of electricity and 300 MW of thermal power which sustain about 1000 homes. The potential capture of 100,000 tons CO2 from this power plant alone might show the effect carbon capture and storage facilities might have on global CO2 emissions if they are found to be effective. Experts do however expect it to take a long time, at least 10 years, before this technology gains widespread use. Some experts also raise security concerns about the technology and the practice of burying large pure CO2 deposits underground.

It is claimed that this is the first carbon capture and storage facility in the world but I am unsure about this as Norway supposedly have been depositing CO2 underground for years. Anyone that can shedd some light on this is welcome to comment.

Cement is one of the largest sources of carbon dioxide emissions in the world. About 5% of all carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted into the atmosphere can be traced back to cement production. When 1 metric ton of cement is produced one ton carbon dioxide is emitted into the atmosphere: The carbon dioxid is emitted when the limestone used in the cemented is created. 2.5 billion tons of cement is manufactured each year.

Now Stanford Professor Brent Constantz have created a new type of cement that can be created without any carbon dioxide at all being emitted. If Constantz can get the product into the market quickly (he has one pilot factory now), on a big scale and at a decent price this might allow us to eliminate 5% of the worlds carbon dioxide emissions in one swift action taking an important step towards fighting global warming.

Sounds too good to be true? Then you in for a surprise, it gets better; the new type of cement is not only carbon emission neutral it will actually help reduce the amount of carbon dioxide released in the atmosphere. Regular cement emits carbon dioxide when it is created this new type binds carbon dioxide. When one ton of this new type of cemented is manufactured it binds 500 kg carbon dioxide that otherwise would end up in the atmosphere.

Early calculations show that this new type of cement can be provided about 10% cheaper than regular cement aka. Portland cement. Exactly how all this is achieved will remain a secret until the patent has been approved but in broad terms it is achieved by bubbling exhaust gas from power plants through sea water to create the ingredients for the new cement. It is when the exhaust gas is bubbled through the sea water the carbon dioxide that otherwise would get emitted into the atmosphere is bound in the new cement. Producing this type of cement will in other words reduce the CO2 emissions from power plants. The process was inspired by the way coral grow and form their exoskeletons.

The same process might also be used to create CO2 neutral concrete and asphalt further reducing global carbon dioxide emissions.

Stanford Professor Brent Constantz has had a distinguished career and this new cement is only his latest discovery. He has over 60 cement based patents and 22 years ago he revolutionized bone fracture repair when he created high-tech medical cement. When Constantz learned about the problems caused by the high CO2 emissions levels, he thought he could do better.

He says that: The reason no one invented it before now is that people didn’t truly understand the dangers of CO2 until less than a decade ago.

He has venture capital backing to bring this product to the marketing and a team is looking for U.S. locations where new production facility can be built in cooperation with power plants but no formal agreements have been reached yet. Professor Brent Constantz suggest that the new type of cement initially should be used in a mix with regular Portland cement to make contractors used to using it before switching over to using exclusively this new type of cement. He says that he thinks this is one of the most important discoveries he made and that “Climate change is the largest challenge of our generation,”

There is however skeptics that is not yet convinced by the product. They state that they hope the new cement will live up to the hype but that tests has to be done before they are going to feel that this new cement will be able to replace the over 100 year old Portland cement.

If this product will be a game changer dramatically reducing global carbon dioxide emissions remain to be seen but if this cement really turns out to be a good replacement that is both carbon dioxide neutral and cheaper than Portland cement it is great news. Great news indeed.

European Union

In December 2007, the EU commission presented their suggestion for a new law that would force car manufacturers to decrease the average carbon dioxide emissions from new cars down to 130 grams per kilometre by 2012. This draft does however come with one gigantic loop hole – the new law would only target cars weighing less than 2,610 kg (5,754 lbs). This could actually prompt car manufacturers to start building even heavier cars than today, just to avoid the new law. Another possible escape route is to make slight alterations to the cars in order to make it possible for them to be registered as light trucks. When a similar law was put into action in the United States during the 1970s, car manufacturers immediately responded by producing large quantities of SUVs that could evade the law by registering as work vehicles. The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC) is now urging the EU parliament and the national governments to take action and remove these loop wholes from the final draft of the law.