The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is preparing stricter air pollution standards that would slash the amount of planet-warming greenhouse gasses produced by U.S. power plants.
For the first time, emissions from both new and most existing natural gas plants would be regulated. Electric utilities would have various options for meeting the tougher standards by installing new carbon-capture systems or switching to cleaner fuels such as hydrogen.
Older gas and coal power plants that are set to retire, or plants that are used sparingly, wouldn’t be required to meet the same greenhouse gas standards. The White House announced the proposed regulations in early May.
Sixty-five miles off the coastal Norwegian city of Bergen, a drilling rig is punching through layers of mud and rock below the North Sea. The energy firms behind the rig aren’t prospecting for oil or gas. They are searching for a place to stash vast amounts of the greenhouse gases emitted by industrial facilities across Europe.
These projects aim to effectively reverse the impact of fossil-fuel combustion by putting carbon dioxide back into the ground. The greenhouse gas gets pulled from the open air and from industrial facilities that produce electricity, steel, aluminum or cement. If the project is designed and built properly, geologists say, the carbon dioxide can be stored safely for generations. Source: The Wall Street Journal