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An Incentive For Carbon Capture | Earth Wise

April 1, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Convincing industries to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions has not been easy. Many approaches have been debated, including carbon taxes, carbon tax-and-trade schemes, and passing a giant Green New Deal. Most economists agree that putting a price on carbon is likely to be the most effective approach.

But there is already in place an adjustment to the US tax code that is more of a carrot than a stick. It is a tax credit that is designed to make capturing CO2 a financial winner for a number of high-emitting industries. The credit, called 45Q, was enacted in February 2018.

The 45Q credit earns industrial manufacturers $50 per metric ton of CO2 stored permanently or $35 per ton if the CO2 is put to use. An earlier credit for capturing carbon dioxide was limited to only $20 per metric ton and was capped at 75 million tons. Some large fossil fuel companies did make use of the earlier credit.

The new version does not have a cap, but to qualify, companies need to start constructing carbon-capture facilities within 7 years and have 12 years to claim their money.

Companies with emission-intensive operations are busy figuring out how to take advantage of the credit. These include cement makers, steel and power plants, corn ethanol producers, and ammonia plants.

Because the credit mandates that companies start constructing their carbon-capture facilities within seven years, most companies will tend to rely on mature technologies. But the tax credit should also drive demand for next-generation carbon-capture technologies, of which there are many under development. Saving lots of money on taxes is likely to lure US companies to capture carbon dioxide.

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45Q, the tax credit that’s luring US companies to capture CO2

Photo, posted October 2, 2014, courtesy of Sask Power via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Bad News For The Aletsch Glacier

November 5, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The Aletsch Glacier in Switzerland is the largest glacier in the Alps. Every year, it attracts thousands of visitors from around the world. The huge ice flow in the Upper Valais region of Switzerland is an Alpine tourist attraction second only to the Matterhorn. In the summer, meltwater from the glacier is an important water source in the dry Rhone Valley.

As the climate continues to warm, the massive glacier continues to shrink. The tongue of the glacier has receded by about a kilometer since the year 2000 and scientists predict that this trend will continue over the coming years.

Detailed simulations by researchers at ETH Zurich assessed the future of the Aletsch Glacier under different scenarios related to the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere and the resulting warming.

The best-case scenario in which global warming is limited to less than 2 degrees Celsius would result in the glacier being half the size it is today by the end of the century. If the global community does not pull together quickly to take effective measures against global warming, Switzerland could warm by as much as 4 to 8 degrees and by 2100, what was once the largest glacier in the Alps will be a couple of measly patches of ice.

To understand how much global warming has already impacted the glacier to date, even if somehow the climate remains the same as it has been for the past 10 years going forward, the ice volume of the Aletsch glacier will still decrease by nearly half its volume by the end of the century. The glacier is no longer in equilibrium with the climate.

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Gloomy forecast for the Aletsch Glacier

Photo, posted April 7, 2007, courtesy of Jessica Gardner via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A Powerful Case For Protecting Whales

October 24, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Efforts to mitigate climate change typically face two major challenges. One is to find effective ways to reduce the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide. The other is how to raise enough money to implement climate mitigation strategies.

Many proposed solutions to climate change, like carbon capture and storage, are complex, expensive, and in some cases, untested. What if there was a low-tech solution that was effective and economical?

Well, it turns out there is one, and it comes from a surprisingly simple, “no-tech” strategy to capture CO2: increase global whale populations.

According to a recent analysis by economists with the International Monetary Fund, whales help fight climate change by sequestering CO2 in the ocean.

Whales sequester carbon in a few ways. They hoard it in their fat and protein-rich bodies, stockpiling tons of carbon apiece. When whales die, they turn into literal carbon sinks on the ocean floor. While alive, whales dive to feed on tiny marine organisms like krill and plankton before surfacing to breathe and excrete. Those latter activities release an enormous plume of nutrients, including nitrogen, iron, and phosphorous, into the water. These so-called “poo-namis” stimulate the growth of phytoplankton, microscopic marine algae that pull CO2 out of the air and return oxygen to the air via photosynthesis. Phytoplankton are responsible for every other breath we take, contributing at least 50% of all oxygen to the atmosphere and capturing approximately 40% of all CO2 produced.

With other economic benefits like ecotourism factored in, economists estimate that each whale is worth $2 million over its lifetime, making the entire global population possibly a one trillion dollar asset to humanity.

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