Energy Systems Consulting Perspectives

Carbon Capture: OnLocation Identifies the Potential, the Roadblocks, and the Questions

Posted by OnLocation on Sep 13, 2021 11:50:00 AM

OnLocation, and our parent company KeyLogic, have decades of experience studying and modeling carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technology and policy. This work is highlighted in a newly published Power Magazine article, CCUS: Big Opportunity and Hard Questions.

CCUS has been portrayed by some advocates as a panacea for fossil-fired power and pilloried by critics as a dangerous diversion from serious decarbonization. The reality is more complicated than saying the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Our analysis identifies the policy issues that must be addressed for a successful CCUS rollout, and also what “success” might mean – that is, where are the likely markets for American CCUS technology.

As discussed in the article, there appears to be a consensus that CCUS is an essential part of the net-zero carbon solution. According to the IEA, CCUS is a necessary tool for use in keeping the increase in global temperatures below 2C and reaching net-zero by 2050. The Biden Administration agrees: the Council on Environmental Quality recently reported that to reach the President’s decarbonization goals the nation will “likely have to capture, transport, and permanently sequester significant quantities of carbon dioxide.”

Topics: Energy, NEMS, Energy Modeling, Environmental Regulation, Energy Policy, Integrated Modeling, Oil and Gas Production

Policies that Promote Clean Energy from Fossil Fuels

Posted by OnLocation on Nov 13, 2020 2:36:32 PM

OnLocation presents the third and final blog in a series that identifies the top environmental and energy policy challenges for 2021 and beyond. This blog focuses on policies aimed at expanding the use of clean fossil-fueled technologies in the power and industrial sectors with the goal of reducing pollution while preserving fuel diversity, improving grid reliability, and utilizing low-cost domestic sources of coal and natural gas.

Arguably the biggest overarching challenge today is to mitigate the greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. All energy-using sectors, including the power and industrial sectors, use a mix of energy sources that include fossil fuels (coal, oil and/or natural gas) that release energy-related carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in the atmosphere. But what if these fossil-fueled technologies could capture and store CO₂ instead of emitting it? These technologies exist today but in most cases are too expensive to implement without policy incentives.

This series of blogs provides policymakers, especially state energy offices and non-governmental organizations, with a clear vision of the benefits of each approach to reducing CO₂ emissions, how different policy options can enable them, and considerations to make when choosing a path forward. Finally, we recommend integrated energy modeling for analyzing the various policy options.

Topics: Energy, NEMS, Energy Modeling, Environmental Regulation, Energy Policy, Integrated Modeling, Oil and Gas Production

Multiple U.S. Energy Models Highlight the Importance of Incentives for CO2 Capture Technologies

Posted by OnLocation on Oct 29, 2020 4:45:17 PM

Frances Wood and Sharon Showalter at OnLocation co-authored a paper that was recently published in the journal Energy Policy titled “Could congressionally mandated incentives lead to deployment of large-scale CO₂ capture facilities for enhanced oil recovery CO₂ markets and geologic CO₂ storage?” The paper describes the results of a joint study performed in coordination with the Stanford University Energy Modeling Forum, an organization that promotes the use of energy policy models to improve the understanding of important energy and environmental issues. Other organizations involved in the study include the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the National Energy Technology Laboratory, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Electric Power Research Institute. The study was performed using five energy models, including a customized version of the National Energy Modeling System created by OnLocation and referred to here as the CTUS-NEMS model.

Topics: Energy, NEMS, Energy Modeling, Environmental Regulation, Energy Policy, Integrated Modeling, Oil and Gas Production, carbon capture, ccs

Negative Consequences Expected from Proposed Restrictions on Oil and Natural Gas Production

Posted by OnLocation on Oct 5, 2020 1:34:37 PM

A compelling new report released by the American Petroleum Institute (API) in early September highlights the negative consequences expected from recent proposals that would ban federal leasing of public lands and waters for natural gas and oil development in the United States. The API report, “The Consequences of a Leasing and Development Ban on Federal Lands and Waters,” concludes that such a ban would result in significant negative impacts on U.S. energy security, the economy, and the environment.

Topics: Energy, NEMS, Energy Modeling, Environmental Regulation, Energy Policy, Integrated Modeling, Oil and Gas Production, Fracking

What if... Fracking was banned?

Posted by OnLocation on Mar 4, 2020 12:51:43 PM

Recently there have been calls for a ban on U.S. oil and natural gas production using hydraulic fracturing (also known as “fracking”), and several states have passed laws banning its use. To investigate such a policy initiative, the American Petroleum Institute (API) turned to OnLocation to provide quantitative modeling and analysis to determine the impacts of an outright ban on fracking. API chose OnLocation because of its reputation for respected and timely analysis of this nature.

Topics: Energy, NEMS, Energy Modeling, Environmental Regulation, Energy Policy, Alternative Power, Alternative Technologies, Integrated Modeling, Oil and Gas Production, Fracking, fossil fuels

Energy Systems Consulting Perspectives