Aviva Corp makes its case for $1bn 'carbon capture-ready' WA coal plant
CEDA offers sustainability training for senior executives
'A clear and present danger', Clinton tells major economies (with video)
'The road to 2050 is lined with inefficient buildings': WBCSD
Aviva Corp makes its case for $1bn 'carbon capture-ready' WA coal plant
The proponent of a 450MW coal-fired power plant, designed to be "carbon capture-ready", today released its public environmental review for the project.
Coolimba Power's $1 billion project would be founded on a 450MW coal-fired, baseload power plant to be built near Eneabba, south of Geraldton.
Coolimba, an Aviva Corporation subsidiary, expects the plant to be operational from 2013 and says it will be designed to eventually capture up to 2.9 million tonnes of CO2 a year, equivalent to about 90% of its emissions.
The review acknowledges that carbon capture and storage "at this stage is not feasible" due to its cost, but says it is "likely" that Coolimba will be the first commercial-scale CCS ready power station in Australia.
The review undertakes to complete a "definitive feasibility level study" of implementing CCS within five years of commissioning the power plant and to present a "refreshed" version every subsequent three years.
"At a recent workshop with State and Commonwealth agencies to investigate the potential for using the Coolimba Power Project as a flagship project under the Commonwealth's National Low Emissions Coal Strategy, it was recognised that Coolimba was the most advanced project in Australia for commercial scale CCS."
The company has begun investigating potential sequestration sites in conjunction with the CO2CRC and gas producer AWE.
In a February presentation, Coolimba described the site as "close to a number of prospective CO2 storage sites – especially depleted gas reservoirs in North Perth Basin".
When augmented with a proposed 358MW of gas-fired peaking plant, and until any CCS component is bolted on, the facility will emit about 4Mt of CO2 a year, equivalent to 0.67% of Australia's assigned emissions under the Kyoto Protocol.
Also out today is the public environmental review for the coal mine that will supply the power plant.
The reviews, prepared in accordance with state environmental assessment requirements, will also feed into the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act approval and assessment process.
Public comment closes on June 23.
CEDA offers sustainability training for senior executives
CEDA is offering a series of "roundtable" sustainability forums for up to 15 senior executives from non-competing companies.
The set of six forums for "sustainability leaders" will run in Sydney from May through to November and will initially be led by SKM chair Peter Scott.
'A clear and present danger', Clinton tells major economies
"The science is unambiguous and the logic that flows from it is inescapable," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said overnight Australian-time in opening remarks to the major economies forum on energy and climate.
"Climate change is a clear and present danger to our world that demands immediate attention," Clinton said.
"So the imperative is clear. We are called to act, and future generations will judge us as to whether we do or not."
Clinton told delegates, including Climate Change Minister Penny Wong, that the U.S. was "fully engaged and ready to lead and determined to make up for lost time, both at home and abroad".
Clinton said a market-based cap on carbon pollution, as proposed by the Obama Administration, would encourage "game-changing private investments in clean energy and improvements in efficiency … setting us on the road to a low-carbon economy".
"We are well aware that some see the economic crisis as an excuse to delay action," Clinton said.
"We see it in an exactly opposite way, as an opportunity to move toward a low carbon future."
Watch Hillary Clinton's opening remarks (11 minutes 45 seconds):
'The road to 2050 is lined with inefficient buildings': WBCSD
By 2050, more efficient energy use in buildings could deliver savings equal to the total energy consumed in today's transportation and industrial sectors combined, says a new study by the World Business Council on Sustainable Development.
"Energy efficiency is fast becoming one of the defining issues of our times," said Björn Stigson, president of the WBCSD.
"Unless there is immediate action, thousands of new buildings will be built without any concern for energy efficiency, and millions of existing, inefficient buildings using more energy than necessary will still be standing in 2050. Acting now means reducing their energy consumption and making real progress in controlling climate change."
The report found that, at energy prices proportionate to oil at US$ 60 per barrel, building energy efficiency investments in the six markets studied, totalling US$150 billion annually, would reduce related energy use and carbon footprints by 40% with five year discounted paybacks.
The study is accompanied by a roadmap setting out tasks for governments, developers, investors, suppliers, architects and occupiers.
