Ron,

Reading through the bill, I don't see any evidence that biomass would
be excluded from this sort of competition.  In fact, the proposed
Advisory Board must include one biologist.

Josh



On Apr 13, 5:51 pm, [email protected] wrote:
> Greg, Ken etal
>
> 1. Thanks for the cite on the bill. It was not yet up when I checked over the 
> weekend.
>
> 2. I wonder if you believe that any form of biomass collection could fit 
> under the bill's stated intent to work with "direct" collection 
> technologies.. I think it a stretch - based on later references to EOR and 
> geothermal.
>
> 3. I have to believe also that working with concentrated CO2 sources would 
> also be ruled out in later legal determinations - given the emphasis on 
> "dilute" and the stated 17% is several orders of magnitude from 
> atmospheric.levels of .04% (what it will be before any prizes are available)
>
> 4. I think the proposed Section 6 Advisory Board could have some other duties 
> than the few identified. Recommending budget levels and other incentives 
> comes to mind.
>
> 5. I am concerned about the emphasis on US retention of patents. We have a 
> world-wide problem here.
>
> 6. Like Ken, I still think it better to have a broader scope for this 
> important CDR topic. I do not object to separating CDR and SRM - which are 
> apples and oranges.
>
> Ron
> (Disclosure - I was a AAAS Congressional Fellow [in that program's first 
> year]. I love this sort of discussion. If we want additional Congressional 
> activity in this area [and I do], we are better off with a wide umbrella.)
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Greg Rau" <[email protected]>
> To: "kcaldeira-gmail" <[email protected]>, "geoengineering" 
> <[email protected]>
> Sent: Monday, April 11, 2011 11:13:57 AM
> Subject: Re: [geo] Re: calling all CDRers
>
> Re: [geo] Re: calling all CDRers The actual bill is 
> here:http://barrasso.senate.gov/public/_files/S_757.pdf
> My reading is that the performance requirements are to be specified (by the 
> DOE Secretary). I don’t think there are any specifications (yet) on what 
> flavors of CDR might qualify, so head-to-head competition between dilute CO2 
> ---> inorg/org C vs dilute CO2---> conc CO2 could be a distinct possibility, 
> assuming the bill goes anywhere.
>
> On 4/9/11 3:27 PM, "kcaldeira-carnegie.stanford.edu" < 
> [email protected] > wrote:
>
> Agree that it would be much better if politicians would define the problem 
> and allow engineers to find good solutions.
>
> Having politicians pick the technological winners is a sure path to disaster.
>
> ---
>
> Incidentally, I was going to illustrate this point with a famous quote from 
> Van Buren about canals and trains, but this quote is apparently false !!
>
> see:http://www.snopes.com/language/document/vanburen.asp
>
> ---
>
> On a similar note, DOE has largely abandon its hydrogen car effort. Who 
> remembers 
> FreedomCar?http://www.hydrogen.energy.gov/freedomcar_partnership.html
>
> Do they learn and decide to define the research by the problem it is supposed 
> to solve (e.g., affordable carbon-neutral personal transport)? No, now we 
> have the next technology pick in the transportation 
> sector:http://www.energy.gov/news/documents/1_Million_Electric_Vehicle_Repor...
>
> On Sat, Apr 9, 2011 at 3:02 PM, Ron Larson < [email protected] > 
> wrote:
>
> Alvia, Joshua, etal:
> I do no know whether the bill will go anywhere. But I think it would have a 
> lot more support if it was all-inclusive. That is, support for all forms of 
> CDR.
> This is like calling for support of vertical-axis wind machines or CdTe 
> photovoltaics. Picking winners is not what Congress is good at.
> I can partially understand leaving Biochar out - as that word is still less 
> than 4 years old. But anyone wishing to see CDR pushed would find plenty of 
> Biochar activists (lots of farmers and foresters) with a (probably) small 
> modification of the S. 757 language.
>
> Ron
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On Apr 9, 2011, at 2:48 PM, "Alvia Gaskill" < [email protected] > wrote:
>
> > It's not part of a combined air/source capture strategy. These are both 
> > considered separately and the emphasis is on ambient air and lower 
> > concentration sources like oil refineries and not mentioned, but 
> > applicable, natural gas where the flue gas level is usually around 3% vs. 
> > 10 for CO2. Since this bill has been around for at least 4 years, it 
> > doesn't seem likely to get anywhere, especially in the next few months.
>
> >http://www.eenews.net/public/eenewspm/2009/11/12/2?page_type=print
>
> > CLIMATE: Barrasso, Bingaman float legislation to promote CO2 capture 
> > (E&ENews PM, 11/12/2009)
> > Katie Howell, E&E reporter
> > A key Senate Democrat and a leading Republican critic of cap-and-trade 
> > legislation today introduced a new bill that would award monetary prizes to 
> > researchers who figure out a way to suck carbon dioxide directly from the 
> > air.
>
> > Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and Sen. John 
> > Barrasso (R-Wyo.) last week introduced the bill, S. 2744, which would 
> > encourage development of technology to capture CO2 from the atmosphere and 
> > permanently sequester it. Sen. Michael Enzi (R-Wyo.) is a co-sponsor of the 
> > legislation.
>
> > "Our proposal takes a fresh look at climate change," Barrasso said in a 
> > statement. "We want to remove carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere."
>
> > Scientists and engineers are currently scaling up methods to capture CO2 
> > from industrial sources, like coal-fired power plants. The bill would 
> > promote development of additional technologies to scrub the gases from the 
> > air or from sources, like oil refineries, that have lower concentrations of 
> > the greenhouse gas than power plants and factories.
>
> > "If we could capture carbon dioxide emitted by low-concentration sources, 
> > or even the atmosphere, it would be a major step toward a cleaner energy 
> > future," Bingaman said. "A federal prize to inspire inventive solutions to 
> > this technical challenge could help us get there quicker."
>
> > The bill would establish a federal commission within the Energy Department 
> > to award prizes to scientists and researchers making headway in the field. 
> > The nine commission members, who would be appointed by the president, would 
> > be climate scientists, physicists, chemists, engineers, business managers 
> > and economists.
>
> > Prizes would be awarded to innovators who design technology to mop up CO2 
> > and permanently store it. The bill does not establish the amount of the 
> > awards.
>
> > The bill would allow the United States to share intellectual property 
> > rights with the inventor after the technology is developed.
>
> > "The bill taps into American ingenuity and innovation," Barrasso said. "It 
> > recognizes the need to develop the technological solutions needed to 
> > address climate change. With financial awards, we can encourage the 
> > extraordinary breakthroughs needed to tackle this problem."
>
> > Some researchers are already investigating the problem. Scientists and 
> > engineers from organizations like chemicals giant BASF, glass and ceramics 
> > maker Corning, Columbia University and the University of Calgary in Canada 
> > are all investigating new technologies that would capture CO2 from the air.
>
> > Their ideas are varied and at different stages of development. But most 
> > involve using some sort of material to react with CO2 in the atmosphere and 
> > form a stable solution or mineral.
>
> > Other efforts to award monetary prizes for technology development have also 
> > emerged. Airline entrepreneur Richard Branson and former U.S. Vice 
> > President Al Gore launched the Virgin Earth Challenge in 2007 to offer $25 
> > million to the first demonstrated design to remove 1 billion metric tons of 
> > greenhouse gases per year from the atmosphere (Greenwire, Feb. 9, 2007). No 
> > one has yet claimed that prize.
>
> > Barrasso introduced similar legislation last session. That bill, S. 2614, 
> > stalled in the Environment and Public Works Committee.
>
> > The new bill has been referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural 
> > Resources, which Bingaman chairs, and an aide said it could move as part of 
> > larger energy and climate legislation in the Senate.
>
> > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Josh Horton" < 
> > [email protected] >
> > To: "geoengineering" < [email protected] >
> > Sent: Saturday, April 09, 2011 3:16
> > Subject: [geo] Re: calling all CDRers
>
> > This report gives the impression that the bill is narrowly focused on
> > conventional point-source post-combustion CCS, but note its title: "A
> > bill to provide incentives to encourage the development and
> > implementation of technology to capture carbon dioxide from dilute
> > sources on a significant scale using direct air capture
> > technologies." The bill appears to be directed at ambient-air CDR
> > combined with CCS, which is more encouraging from the standpoint of
> > climate engineering. Of course, there is tremendous distance from a
> > bill to a law to implementation to success, so more than a fair amount
> > of skepticism is in order.
>
> > Josh Horton
> > [email protected]
> >http://geoengineeringpolitics.blogspot.com/
>
> > On Apr 8, 3:16 pm, "Rau, Greg" < [email protected] > wrote:
> >> CLIMATE: Barrasso, Bingaman reintroduce CCS prize bill (04/08/2011)
> >> Katie Howell, E&E reporter
> >> Sens. John Barrasso and Jeff Bingaman yesterday reintroduced their 
> >> bipartisan measure that would award monetary prizes to researchers who 
> >> figure out a way to suck carbon dioxide directly from the air.
>
> >> Barrasso, a Republican from Wyoming, and Bingaman, the New Mexico Democrat 
> >> who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, first 
> >> introduced the carbon capture and storage (CCS) legislation last Congress, 
> >> where it stalled in committee.
>
> >> But Bingaman in recent weeks has targeted CCS as an area with potential 
> >> for bipartisan cooperation on the committee. Several Republicans, 
> >> including Barrasso, are co-sponsors of CCS legislation he floated last 
> >> week (E&ENews PM, April 1).
>
> >> And yesterday, Bob Simon, the committee's Democratic chief of staff, said, 
> >> "the whole area of carbon capture and storage is one that is ripe for 
> >> bipartisan cooperation in the Senate."
>
> >> "Frankly, if we can make sure, if we can demonstrate that you can 
> >> economically capture and store carbon dioxide,
>
> ...
>
> read more »- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

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