Page 69 - North American Clean Energy March April 2015

and Resources Group and director of * Learn more at www.epa.gov/climatechange/ccs
Co-authors of the study are James Nelson of the Union of Concerned

the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Scientists, Ana Mileva of Energy and Environmental Economics (E3),
Laboratory (RAEL), where the work was Sanchez, Kammen, and their colleagues published their analysis of and Josiah Johnston of RAEL and the Energy and Resources Group. he
conducted.
BECCS in western North America, in the online journal “Nature Climate study was funded by the National Science Foundation, the California
Change: Carbon capture & sequestration.”
Energy Commission, and the Link Energy Fellowship.

Covering the costs
hough the inancial costs and the Berkeley: University of California | www.berkeley.edu
technological hurdles of capturing

carbon from biomass power plants and
compressing it underground are massive,
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC)—the major international

body studying the issue—assumes that it
will become viable in 50 years.
he IPCC has even included it in their
long-term predictions: “BECCS technologies

igure prominently in the IPCC’s recent
Fifth Assessment Report (AR5), which
focuses in part on mitigating climate
change, but previous models examining

BECCS deployment have not investigated
its role in power systems in detail, or in
aggressive time frames,” said Kammen, who
also serves as a coordinating lead author on

the IPCC.
To remedy this, the UC Berkeley
scientists used a detailed computer model
they developed of the west’s electric power

grid, so as to predict deployment of BECCS
in low-carbon and carbon-negative power
systems. he model of western North
America was developed in the RAEL lab,

and is referred to as SWITCH-WECC.
SWITCH can be used to study generation,
transmission, and storage options for the
US, west of the Kansas/Colorado border,

as well as in northwest Mexico and the
Canadian provinces of Alberta and British
Columbia.
he study found that BECCS,

combined with aggressive renewable
energy deployment and fossil emissions
reductions, can enable a carbon-negative

power system in western North America by
2050, with up to 145% emissions reduction
from 1990 levels. Such reductions can occur
with as little as 7% of the power coming

from BECCS.
In most scenarios explored, however,
the carbon ofsets produced by BECCS are
more valuable to the power system than the

electricity it provides.
his study relies on a detailed spatial and The proof is in the product
temporal inventory of potential bioenergy
feedstocks, such as forest residues,
Nothing beats the precision grinding and
municipal solid waste and switchgrass, as consistent uptime of a Rotochopper electric
well as complimentary renewable energy,
such as from wind and solar power. Sanchez grinder. This unmatched grinding eficiency
noted that burning biomass as part of delivers a higher quality biomass fuel, at a
lower cost per ton.
BECCS may have a greater impact on
greenhouse gas emissions than using these • Pallets & Crates • Forestry Slash
same feedstocks for biofuels, solely because
of the possibility of carbon capture.
• Sorted C & D
• Railroad Ties

“We’re evaluating a technology with • Slab Wood
• Wood Chips
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assuming,” said Sanchez.

North American Clean Energy 69