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Illinois Future of Gas: Additional Decarbonization Technologies – January 27, 2025

Elizabeth — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 22:13:36 +0000

By Scott Allen This workshop was in some ways a Part II to the previous “alternative fuels” workshop in that it also focused on what I’ll call “Carbonization Pathways.” I give it that label, because, aside from the University of Illinois Chicago, none of the presenters from the last two meetings seemed to have any intent to decarbonize. Here was the lineup for the latest workshop: The Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois presented on Carbon Capture Utilization and Sequestration (CCUS); The Energy Resource Center at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) presented on Combined Heat and Power (CHP); GTI (formerly the Gas Technology Institute) presented on “additional decarbonization technologies;” i.e. gas heat pumps. You can view all the Jan. 27 presentations here, but my main concern coming out of this workshop is with the way Prairie Research Institute (PRI) talked about CCUS. So I will concentrate on that. As far as GTI and their “additional decarbonization technologies” are concerned, I don’t feel like it’s worth giving any more attention to gas-testing facilities or the wild ideas they dream up. (But, if they’re going to keep a cozy relationship with gas, I suggest they regularly test the batteries in their carbon monoxide detectors.) Carbon Capture Utilization and Sequestration has been a contentious policy issue in Illinois since the Inflation Reduction Act increased the value of the 45Q tax credit. It isn’t that CCUS projects didn’t exist in the state, or were being explored prior to that, but it’s the fact that pollution became a more valuable commodity. Suddenly, polluters from around the country were eyeballing huge swathes of central and southern Illinois as a place to dump their byproducts, and the Prairie Research Institute was leading the charge to encourage them. For more than a year at the tail end of the COVID pandemic, it was hard to miss a webinar from PRI not only extolling the benefits of carbon capture technology, but also showing illustrated maps of Illinois’ unique geology. Fortunately, Gov. Pritzker last summer signed the SAFE CCS Act, which took steps toward disincentivizing private investment in CCUS and banned the use of sequestered carbon for “enhanced oil recovery.” (Historical note: Carbon capture technology was originally conceived and funded so that the captured carbon could be used to more efficiently extract oil). The Act also banned pipelines until July of 2026 (or until new federal safety rules are established, whichever comes first), and it created some landowner protections, monitoring requirements and assurance that the State never takes ownership of sequestered carbon dioxide. However, in my mind it fell short of protecting aquifers and environmental justice communities. It also didn’t seem to have much of an effect on PRI’s efforts to make sure that Illinois’ two most prominent publicly-owned coal plants are further subsidized so that PRI can prove that carbon capture on coal plants is a worthwhile pursuit. What does any of this have to do with decarbonizing the gas distribution system? Doesn’t matter. This presentation was simply another opportunity for PRI to talk about the “carbon capture value chain,” and once again highlight the demonstration […]

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Illinois Future of Gas: Alternative Fuels Meeting – January 13, 2025

Jim Chilsen — Sat, 01 Feb 2025 01:07:51 +0000

By: Scott Allen, Energy Policy Specialist Alternative fuels was the theme of the eighth Future of Gas workshop. Advocates often refer to alternative fuels and decarbonization technologies (like so-called “renewable” natural gas, hydrogen and carbon capture connected to coal plants) as “false solutions” because they fail to truly deliver the clean and affordable promises made by the entities that market them. That’s a fair characterization, but after hearing the presenters during this workshop, I have a new term for this industry: “commodifying pollution.” That phrase probably hints at my bias (but I’ve never claimed to be unbiased). However, I am open to being convinced otherwise. I’ll be all for alternative fuels and carbon mitigation technologies–IF they turn out to be viable, healthy and affordable. In this workshop, we heard from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI); GTI Energy (formerly known as the Gas Technology Institute); The Roanoke Gas Company; Green Era Chicago and Nicor Gas/Southern Company. EPRI’s presenter gave an analysis of the various pathways to decarbonization via alternative fuels. The presentation was quite dense and cross-referenced. It compared, contrasted and qualified such a wide range of scenarios in such specificity that untangling it would take several pages, so I’ll skip to the takeaway points: “bioenergy” and Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) conceptually are important, but as a decarbonization strategy, their potential is limited. There are cost-usefulness tradeoffs for various types of fuels and technologies depending on the sector and application. GTI Energy’s presentation discussed two alternative fuels: hydrogen and “renewable natural gas,” or RNG. GTI went further than EPRI to say that the benefits of RNG and hydrogen are well known, and that both fuels are tested, ready-made alternatives to methane gas. It’s important to point out that RNG is primarily methane, and in smaller quantities, carbon dioxide. In the same way that advertisers branded methane extracted from the earth as “natural,” they’ve started calling methane that occurs via decomposition of organic matter “renewable.” Likewise, when people in the energy industry refer to hydrogen, they are usually talking about the production of hydrogen, and then using that hydrogen as fuel in a number of industrial, commercial, transportation, and even residential applications. Hydrogen is appealing, at first, because it only exhausts water vapor. Nothing wrong with that, but the important questions for any application of hydrogen are: How is it produced? How efficient is it? Is it cost effective?” As far as I can tell, there aren’t any clear answers to those questions. It’s also not clear which method of production is preferred by the fossil fuel industry. They point out that hydrogen can be produced using renewable energy, but also that it can be produced using nuclear, gas and coal energy. I suppose they estimate that the greenhouse gas emissions from production would be offset by the energy density of the hydrogen used as a fuel. I can’t say whether or not this is true, or in which applications it may or may not be true, but neither can anybody else it seems. As always, I ask you to watch the replay of the workshop, and browse the materials […]

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