At Carbon Retirement, we have just published a short piece of research into the efficiency of carbon offsetting through the Clean Development Mechanism, covered by the BBC. It shows that for every £1 spent on CERs by voluntary buyers, 28p goes to the project’s capital expenditure and maintenance costs.
The chart below, from the report, summarises the costs per CER, with the grey chunks representing project expenditure. Project costs total £3.78 per CER, or 28% of the price paid by the final buyer.
Costs in the CDM market, per CER
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Posted on January 4, 2010
· in Learn
While Canadians debate carbon tax and Aussies fight over the emissions scheme, the US Dept of Energy is taking a shot at the controversial carbon sequestration plan. The Southeast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (SECARB), which is a part of the DOE, has set up sophisticated underground apparatus to monitor CO2 injected for an oil recovery program.
Apart from being a step towards large-scale sequestration projects, the current study will also assist in evaluating the type of apparatus required to ensure secure storage of carbon dioxide. Approximately 250K-500K metric tons of carbon dioxide will be pumped around 10,000 feet into the ground every year for this sequestration research.
Although CO2 injection isn’t that new an approach for Enhanced Oil Recovery, what needs to be tested largely is the safety of the whole process, especially the safety of underground water resources from being contaminated by the injected gases.
Posted on August 28, 2008
· in Carbon Market News
Two separate studies conducted by American, Canadian and German Researchers show that soils have a limited capacity when it comes to sequestering carbon. It has been known for quite some time that plants absorb CO2 from the surroundings as they grow and process that carbon into their tissues. Upon a plant’s death, the carbon gets amalgamated into the soil and remains stored there with soil particles.
“Because carbon can reside in soils for a long time in a stable form, soils harbor, on the average, two-thirds of the carbon in the land-based ecosystem,” stated Haegeun Chung of the UC Davis’ Department of Plant Sciences.
The researches, published in the Soil Science Society of America Journal, show that soil can reach saturation when a certain amount of carbon is stored in them. The soil would not accept more carbon after this saturation level is attained.
The US Dept of Energy funded both the researches.
Posted on August 18, 2008
· in Carbon Market News
