Reuters reports that several inventors from Wales have developed what they call the “Greenbox.”

This sounds like a big breakthrough. However its not like this is the first time I have read one of these “silver bullet technology” stories.

The fact that these folks are so secretive of course makes it hard to evaluate the viability of the technology.

Developed by organic chemist Derek Palmer and engineers Ian Houston and John Jones, the technology is now being promoted as a way to successfully capture a majority of the emissions and has led to the formation of Maes Anturio Limited, which translates from Welsh as Field Adventure.

They apparently stumbled across the idea while experimenting with carbon dioxide to help boost algae growth for fish farming.

They now have the backing of their local member of parliament and are seeking capital either from government or industry

The system uses canister to replace a car exhaust that will last for a full tank of petrol. It has to be replaced at each fill up and that of course means an system to process and transport the material would have to deployed parallel to the existing petrol filling station infrastructure.

The idea is that this could be an alternative model for a biofuel economy that would be zero emissions and closed loop. The waste gases collected by the system (which would be located on each individual automobile) would then be recycled into a vast algae growing infrastructure. This would include thousands of acres of specially designed algae farms. The farms would grow special algae that would be grown to extract the oil from inside their cell walls. The next step would involve setting up biorefineries to process the oil in a way that is very similar to how conventional oil is processed (except hopefully without the pollution and ecological destruction).

The crucial aspect of the technology is that the carbon dioxide is captured and held in a secure state, said Houston. Conventional carbon capture technologies are much more cumbersome or energy-intensive, for example using miles of pipeline to transport the gas. There is no word on the cost of this technology.

Steven asks in the Sustainable Tuscon Discussion Group: “Is there anyone who DOESN’T read energybulletin.net regularly?” Actually I dont.

According to Steven, EnergyBulletin gives a great wrap-up of important energy and sustainability news.

James Hanson is featured in a special Grist Mill editionCoal is the enemy of the human race: James Hansen edition:

There are long lists of things that people can do to help mitigate climate change. But for reasons quantified in my most recent publication, a moratorium on coal-fired power plants without CCS [Clean Coal Systems?] is by far the most important action that needs to be pursued. It should be the rallying issue for young people. The future of the planet in their lifetime is at stake. This is not an issue for only Bangladesh and the island nations, but for all humanity and other life on the planet.

More here.

In my hometown of Springfield Missouri, this reality still seems very much lost on the decision-makers, including the municipal utility (City Utilities) are still going full steam ahead with their coal power plant which they call Southwest 2. One wonders whats it going to take to get them to wake up and realize the error of their ways?

Actions need to be taken against the use of conventional coal which it seems is what Hansen is saying. However the notion that a resource can be an enemy of the human race is not very sound thinking and reasoning. The problem is not the resource but how we use it.

Its also theoretically possible that Fossil fuels like coal: