Carbon Capture and Sequestration: Research, Development, and Demonstration at the U.S. Department of Energy [February 10, 2014]   [open pdf - 456KB]

"On September 20, 2013, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) re-proposed standards for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from new fossil-fueled power plants. On January 8, 2014, EPA published the re-proposed rule in the 'Federal Register', triggering the start of a 60-day public comment period. The proposed rule places a new focus on whether the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) CCS research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) program will achieve its vision of developing an advanced CCS technology portfolio ready by 2020 for large-scale CCS deployment. As re-proposed, the standards would limit emissions of CO2 to no more than 1,100 pounds per megawatt-hour (lbs/Mwh) of production from new coal-fired power plants and between 1,000 and 1,100 lbs/Mwh (depending on size of the plant) for new natural gas-fired plants. EPA proposed the standard under Section 111 of the Clean Air Act. According to EPA, new natural gas-fired stationary power plants should be able to meet the proposed standards without additional cost and the need for add-on control technology. However, new coal-fired plants only would be able to meet the standards by installing carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology. The re-proposed rule has sparked increased scrutiny of the future of CCS as a viable technology for reducing CO2 emissions from coal-fired power plants."