Generation & Emissions
Have you ever wondered how electricity is made and how it can impact our world? Energy powers our world, but not all energy is created equal. Renewables are clean energy sources but aren’t always available. Fossil fuels are plentiful and work around the clock but create a gas called carbon dioxide that can contribute to climate change. But don’t worry, there are ways we can capture and store that gas to help protect our planet!
Coal
Natural gas is a great partner with renewables on the mission to a brighter, greener future because it produces energy with almost half the emissions of other fossil fuels and produces far fewer pollutants while providing reliable energy day and night.
Natural Gas
Nuclear
Nuclear power currently accounts for around 20% of the US electricity mix and is expected to continue playing a significant role in the country’s energy mix as a low-carbon energy source.
Renewables
& Storage
How Coal Works
Coal is extracted from deep within the earth by blasting apart mountain tops or drilling deep shafts to dig it up.
The coal is then transported to the coal-fired power plant.
It is then burned to heat water into steam.
The steam pressure moves turbines which spins a magnet in the generator to produce electricity. The steam is cooled an d condensed back into water. The process repeats.
Learn More
Impact
Coal is relatively cheap and abundant, but there are drawbacks.
- Burning coal releases CO2 into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change.
- Mining can pollute water, damage land, erode soil, and require deforestation, leading to biodiversity loss.
- Coal accounted for 40% of all carbon emissions in 2021, an all-time high of 15.3 billion tonnes (learn more).
Coal is expected to continue losing market share to natural gas and renewables.
Learn More
How Natural Gas works
Natural gas is found in underground formations such as shales or coal seams. To reach the natural gas, wells are drilled deep into the ground. In some places, hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" is used to reach the gas in shale rock formations where regular wells can’t get to it.
The gas is extracted, transported to a processing plant, cleaned, and then transported to a market for sale.
At the power plant, natural gas is burned in heaters that produce steam. The steam pressure rotates turbines that spin a magnet in the generator, producing electricity for homes and businesses.
Learn More
Impact
Natural gas is a cleaner-burning fuel than coal or oil, and more abundant. In 2021, natural gas accounted for about 37% of U.S. electricity generation, up from 23% in 2005. The increase in natural gas stems from its wide availability, relative cleanliness, and low costs.
Natural gas emits half as much carbon dioxide as coal, and about 30% less than oil, as well as far fewer pollutants.
Natural gas is also easier to quickly increase or decrease power production to meet real-time grid demands than other sources, which makes it one of the preferred sources of energy in highly dynamic markets like Texas.
Learn More
How Nuclear works
Nuclear reactors use uranium, a "heavy" metal that stores a lot of concentrated energy. Uranium is mined and refined into nuclear fuel pellets (through a process called enrichment), which are stacked in sealed metal tubes called fuel rods.
In the reactor, batches of fuel rods are shot with charged particles, which splits the uranium atoms and creates extraordinary levels of heat and radiation energy in a process called "fission".
The heat energy converts water to steam, which spins turbines just like other power plants. Fuel rods are good for 3-5 years, and are then buried in a permanent safe underground repository for final disposal.
Learn More
Impact
Nuclear energy is a reliable and efficient method for meeting global energy needs. Currently, there are over 400 commercial nuclear reactors in 30 countries.
Nuclear plants do not emit greenhouse gasses, making their operation carbon-neutral. They do produce radioactive waste that requires careful storage for safe disposal (around 2,000 metric tons annually), and the process of mining and refining uranium produces carbon emissions (around 71 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT) annually). There have been several major nuclear power plant disasters, including Chernobyl in 1986 and Fukushima Daiichi in 2011.
Learn More
How Renewables works
Renewable energy sources, including:
Solar
Wind
Hydroelectric
Biomass
Geothermal
are those that replenish naturally. They each produce electricity in different ways - solar energy converts solar radiation (sunlight) into electrical charges based on the photovoltaic effect; hydropower, wind turbines, and biogas each spin turbines that spin magnets within generators, which produce electricity (though they each do it their own way). Each of these produce low-carbon energy, making them essential components of the global energy transition to cleaner, more sustainable solutions.
Learn More
Impact
Renewables made up about 21.5% of total 2022 U.S. electricitygeneration and contribute about 73 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT) annual carbon emissions due to manufacturing and recycling of broken or outdated parts.
Drawbacks:
- Do not always produce power when needed, which makes it hard for grid operates to meet demand
- Can be expensive to install and operate
- Battery storage tech impacts environment through mining of rare metals
Benefits:
- No greenhouse gas production
- No air pollution
- Helps reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil
Learn More
Mission Emissions:
Aiming for Net-Zero
Carbon neutrality refers specifically to carbon emissions generated but then offset elsewhere to achieve a net-neutral outcome.
Humanity is releasing
50 Billion TonsOf CO2 into the atmosphere every year
When we should be removing
10 Billion Tonsa year to achieve net-zero by 2050
Natural gas can play a key role in the management of CO2 to achieve net-zero
As a cleaner fuel than traditional non-renewable energy sources, natural gas is a natural partner with renewables in helping reduce carbon emissions. And through carbon capture and storage processes, we can make an even greater impact in reducing our environmental impact.
What’s Carbon Capture, Utilization and Sequestration?
Carbon capture, utilization and sequestration (CCUS) refers to a suite of technologies that can play a diverse role in meeting global energy and climate goals.
The Basics:
- Achieving deep decarbonization in hard-to-abate industries such as cement, iron, and steel
- Enabling the production of low-carbon hydrogen at scale
- Providing low-carbon dispatchable power, ensuring that the low-carbon grid of the future is resilient and reliable.
- Delivering negative emissions to compensate for residual emissions
Proven technology suite which is a vital part of reaching the Paris Agreement net-zero emissions goal by 2050. Mitigates climate change by:
It’s easier to keep a unit of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere than it is to try to retrieve it. We can reuse the carbon to create energy, to create products or we can store it.
How Does Carbon Capture Work?
Carbon capture can be applied across sectors vital to the economy, including cement, steel, fertilizers, power generation, natural gas processing, and can be used in the production of clean hydrogen. There are two basic forms of Capture:
Point-Source Carbon Capture
Point-Source carbon describes capture of carbon at the point or source where the carbon is produced (like an industrial production facility or a power plant) before it can be emitted to the air.
Direct Air Capture
While it is critical to stop greenhouse gases from reaching our atmosphere, in order to meet global temperature targets by 2050, existing greenhouse gases must also be pulled back out of the air. That’s where Direct Air Capture comes in: it’s a technology that pulls in air, then uses a chemical process to trap and extract the CO2, allowing the rest of the air to pass through and recirculate..
What are the primary capture methods?
Post Combustion
Post-combustion carbon capture takes place after the fuel has been burned (combusted). CO2 is chemically separated from the flue gas (the gas from the burning of the fuel) and scrubbed of impurities, then routed for storage or other uses. One of the most common processes can capture as much as 85% of the CO2 in the mix! Post-combustion carbon capture technology is advancing rapidly and can be retrofitted to many power plants and industrial facilities without significant modifications. And, it can be made greener by recycling the heat from burning to power other processes, or even by using solar power to produce the heat in the first place.
Learn More
Pre Combustion
Pre-combustion carbon capture is the process of capturing carbon dioxide from the fuel source before it is burned. In this process, the carbon dioxide is separated from from the other gases in the mixture such as methane. Once the carbon dioxide is purified, it can be captured and stored or used in other industrial processes. Pre-combustion carbon capture can capture up to 90% of carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, making it an essential step in our efforts to achieve net-zero production.
Learn More
OxyFuel Combustion
Oxyfuel combustion is a form of post-combustion carbon capture that burns fuel using pure oxygen instead of natural air. Ambient air contains many gases and some impurities. Burning fuel with pure oxygen results in cleaner flue gas primarily the CO2 and water vapor. Separating the CO2 is now easier and doesn’t require chemicals to separate and capture it like traditional post-combustion carbon capture does. Because of these advantages, it is considered one of the most promising technologies for reducing carbon emissions.
Learn More
What are the primary capture methods?
Post Combustion
Post-combustion carbon capture takes place after the fuel has been burned (combusted). CO2 is chemically separated from the flue gas (the gas from the burning of the fuel) and scrubbed of impurities, then routed for storage or other uses. One of the most common processes can capture as much as 85% of the CO2 in the mix! Post-combustion carbon capture technology is advancing rapidly and can be retrofitted to many power plants and industrial facilities without significant modifications. And, it can be made greener by recycling the heat from burning to power other processes, or even by using solar power to produce the heat in the first place.
Pre Combustion
Pre-combustion carbon capture is the process of capturing carbon dioxide from the fuel source before it is burned. In this process, the carbon dioxide is separated from from the other gases in the mixture such as methane. Once the carbon dioxide is purified, it can be captured and stored or used in other industrial processes. Pre-combustion carbon capture can capture up to 90% of carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, making it an essential step in our efforts to achieve net-zero production.
OxyFuel Combustion
Oxyfuel combustion is a form of post-combustion carbon capture that burns fuel using pure oxygen instead of natural air. Ambient air contains many gases and some impurities. Burning fuel with pure oxygen results in cleaner flue gas primarily the CO2 and water vapor. Separating the CO2 is now easier and doesn’t require chemicals to separate and capture it like traditional post-combustion carbon capture does. Because of these advantages, it is considered one of the most promising technologies for reducing carbon emissions.
How Does Subsurface Carbon Injection Work?
What makes a site suitable for geological storage?
It starts with suitable underground storage sites at depths of 1 kilometer or greater. CO2 gas remains in its dense phase at this depth, making it possible to store more CO2 in a given space. These deep storage sites could be on or offshore. Secondly, the type of rock in these storage sites must be porous and permeable. One common misperception is that CO2 is stored in an underground cavern. CO2 is actually stored in rocks, and the formations that are suitable for storage are covered by cap rock that is not porous, thus creating a barrier to movement.
What are the primary injection types?
- Saline formations
- Injection into deep unmineable coal seams or ECBM
- Use of CO2 in enhance oil recovery (EOR)
- Depleted oil and gas reservoirs formations that are suitable for storage are covered by cap rock that is not porous, thus creating a barrier to movement.
We can also utilize the CO2 we’ve captured for use in industries and to create new products
Fizzy Beverages
Fuels
Foods
Medicine
Building
25% of US annual carbon emissions come from electricity production
BKV is aiming to reach net-zero emissions for upstream assets by 2025.
Keep your hopes up, we’ve got brilliant minds on it.