Oct 10 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Thomas Content Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The technology to bury carbon dioxide underground instead of releasing it into the air from the smokestacks of coal-fired power plants is still many years away.

But research into the technology is picking up steam as federal funding for research has expanded, said Carl Bauer, director of the National Energy Technology Laboratory in Albany, Ore.

"This year our budget for research in carbon sequestration is $170 million," he told more than 100 people during a lunch speech at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Thursday. "Ten years ago, it was $1 million."

The increase in funding is one sign of work taking place across the energy sector to find ways to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, the leading greenhouse gas. Coal-fired power plants are a leading source of the emissions, and Wisconsin is expanding its fleet of coal-fired power generation with new plants in Wausau and Oak Creek.

Mike Lovell, dean of the UWM College of Engineering and Applied Science, invited Bauer to speak in Milwaukee and meet with representatives of the city's three engineering schools.

While at the University of Pittsburgh, Lovell organized a research effort partnership among Bauer's organization, his university and two other universities, Lovell said.

Thursday's meeting could be the start of collaboration by local universities and industry on energy-related work, whether that comes in the area of water technology or in a different field such as sensors, he said.

Bauer said the world's energy challenges are great, noting that demand for energy is projected to grow by 16% in the United States by 2030 -- with a much faster growth rate -- 55% -- projected in the rest of the world.

"We're going to be competing for energy resources in a more substantial way," he said.

And that means racing to meet rising demand with a variety of sources that don't increase greenhouse gas emissions, he said.

Bauer's laboratory is developing sensors that can monitor carbon dioxide after it has been injected into the ground, and is developing systems to strip carbon dioxide from power plant exhaust so it can be injected underground.

A similar test is under way in Pleasant Prairie, where the French firm Alstom will study the use of chilled ammonia to capture carbon dioxide from the smokestack at the We Energies coal-fired power plant along Lake Michigan.

Tests of the system have been taking place since February. The study is funded by the Electric Power Research Institute and its member utilities.

The challenge of the research is proving that it can work on a commercial scale -- and bringing down the cost. Some coal plants that would also bury the carbon would cost 80% more to build than a typical coal plant costs today.

But Bauer said the new technologies being developed could be much more cost-effective, priced 10% to 30% higher than conventional coal plants.

There's no one solution to the daunting energy challenges of balancing cost, energy security and the environment, said Bauer.

"I'm agnostic on energy," he said. "I believe we need it all."

Copyright © 2008The McClatchy Company