April 11, 2017

USEA chief says we need policy parity to meet growing demand for energy, advance CCUS

Chicago—An energy policy that boosts all forms of energy development, not just renewable energy, is key to meeting the growing global energy demand and advancing carbon capture and utilization projects, U.S. Energy Association (USEA) Executive Director Barry Worthington told stakeholders at the Electric Power 2017 conference in Chicago on Tuesday.

Worthington said, “By 2050, we’ll need to serve 3.4 billion more electricity customers while maintaining supply to the existing 3.7 billion consumers. We’ll continue to need fossil fuels to meet that demand.

“But if we are to meet that demand while reducing CO2, we will need policies that advance carbon capture technology.

“Over eight years, the Obama administration’s policies favored renewable energy development over fossil fuel development, though fossil fuels meet most global energy demand.

“For example, Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 established a loan guarantee program for various types of energy projects that ‘avoid, reduce, or sequester air pollutants or anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases,’ including renewables, and ‘advanced fossil energy technology’ like ‘carbon capture and sequestration.’

“The U.S. Energy Department’s celebrated loan guarantee program issued more than $34 billion in ‘conditional commitments’ but no advanced fossil projects currently have a loan guarantee.

 “Just as the renewable energy industry has been given production tax credits, feed-in tariffs and grants, among other incentives, the fossil fuel industry should be treated equally and offered the same incentives to develop a technology that would make the fossil fuel industry more sustainable and help it manage carbon emissions.”