DOE, USEA going on carbon capture roadshow

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and the U.S. Energy Association (USEA) recently announced the kickoff of a national roadshow to promote the benefits of carbon capture technologies.

The roadshow will stop in six cities, starting with Washington, D.C. on Jan. 28, New Orleans on March 17, Houston on April 21, Sacramento on May 19, New York on June 15, and Chicago on July 21.

At the events, energy stakeholders will meet to discuss commercial CCUS deployment, using carbon for industrial processes, as well as tax incentives, policy, regulation, federal and state programs, among other related topics. Further, the groups will discuss new areas where captured carbon can be used, such as waste plastics destruction, carbon neutral petrochemical feedstocks, transportation fuels, and electricity generation.

DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and the National Energy Technology Laboratory has been working with industry partners and research institutions for years to address the technical challenges to CCUS commercialization.

“No matter where you are on the spectrum of the climate issue, the fact is, fossil-fueled power plants will have to operate with lower CO2 emissions,” Steven Winberg, assistant secretary for the Office of Fossil Energy, said. “The only viable path to getting there is to commercialize and deploy CCUS technologies around the world.”

The U.S. Energy Association is glad to be part of the initiative.

“Any technology that reduces CO2 concentration in the atmosphere and allows us to continue to deliver safe, affordable energy to Americans has our support,” USEA Executive Director Barry Worthington said. “Carbon-capture technology has been around for decades, but we now have a large swath of uses for captured carbon, and we have tax incentives like 45Q and Congressman Tom Reed’s Energy Sector Innovation Credit, which will make CCS and CCUS more pervasive across our industry.”