And so it has begun – Shell’s public relations offensive ahead of the 2015 Paris climate talks. The substance of their “advocacy” – and for a heavyweight corporation, it’s less lobbying than badgering – is that the rest of the world should adapt. Policymakers should set a price on carbon, according to Shell. A price on carbon might make some dirty, polluting energy projects unprofitable, and there’s some value in that. A price on carbon might also stimulate a certain amount of Carbon Capture and Storage, or CCS, the capturing and permanent underground sequestration of carbon dioxide at large mines, industrial plant and power stations. But how much CCS could be incentivised by pricing carbon is still unclear. Egging on the rest of the world to price carbon would give Shell the room to carry on digging up carbon and burning it and then capturing it and burying it – because energy prices would inevitably rise to cover this cost. Shell continues with the line that they started in the 1990s – that they should continue to dig up carbon and burn it, or sell it to other people to burn, and that the rest of the world should continue to pay for the carbon to be captured and buried – but Shell has not answered a basic problem. As any physicist could tell you, CCS is incredibly energy-inefficient, which makes it cost-inefficient. A price on carbon wouldn’t solve that. It would be far more energy-efficient, and therefore cost-efficient, to either not dig up the carbon in the first place, or, failing that, recycle carbon dioxide into new energy. Shell have the chemical prowess to recycle carbon dioxide into Renewable Gas, but they are still not planning to do it. They are continuing to offer us the worst of all possible worlds. They are absolutely right to stick to their “core capabilities” – other corporations can ramp up renewable electricity such as wind and solar farms – but Shell does chemistry, so it is appropriate for them to manufacture Renewable Gas. They are already using most of the basic process steps in their production of synthetic crude in Canada, and their processing of coal and biomass in The Netherlands. They need to join the dots and aim for Renewable Gas. This will be far less expensive, and much more efficient, than Carbon Capture and Storage. The world does not need to shoulder the expense and effort of setting a price on carbon. Shell and its fellow fossil fuel companies need to transition out to Renewable Gas.
Categories
Academic Freedom Alchemical Assets not Liabilities Be Prepared Big Number Big Picture British Biogas Carbon Capture Carbon Commodities Carbon Pricing Carbon Recycling Climate Change Coal Hell Conflict of Interest Corporate Pressure Delay and Deny Demoticratica Divest and Survive Dreamworld Economics Efficiency is King Emissions Impossible Energy Calculation Energy Change Energy Denial Energy Revival Engineering Marvel Environmental Howzat Extreme Energy Financiers of the Apocalypse Fossilised Fuels Freemarketeering Gamechanger Geogingerneering Green Gas Green Investment Green Power Hydrocarbon Hegemony Hydrogen Economy Low Carbon Life Major Shift Mass Propaganda Modern Myths Natural Gas Not In My Name Nudge & Budge Paradigm Shapeshifter Peak Emissions Policy Warfare Political Nightmare Price Control Protest & Survive Public Relations Pure Hollywood Realistic Models Regulatory Ultimatum Renewable Gas Renewable Resource Social Capital Solar Sunrise Solution City Sustainable Deferment Tarred Sands Technofix Technological Sideshow The Power of Intention The Price of Gas The Price of Oil The Right Chemistry The Science of Communitagion Unconventional Foul Ungreen Development Wasted Resource Western Hedge Wind of Fortune Zero Net