The U.S. Department of Energy has thrown about $670,000 LSU’s way and the flagship is giving all the loot to the state’s premier geological research center to launch three different geothermal energy projects. Louisiana Geological Survey, located on campus, is no stranger to the field and has been studying the alternative source for years.
Geopressured energy, or geothermal energy, is derived from hot, pressurized waters trapped deep in the earth’s sedimentary formations. The water, heated by the earth’s natural processes, can be used to generate electrical power. Such energy can be captured from man-made sources as well.
The first project seeks to capture and transport CO2 from petrochemical facilities located along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans for geologic storage. It’s headed up by Shell. There’s already an existing so-called green pipeline being operated by Denbury Onshore. It transports a CO2 stream across 320 miles beginning in Donaldsonville and ending in the Hastings Oil Field, south of Houston. There, the CO2 will be used for enhanced oil recovery operations. This process calls for CO2 to be pumped into the ground, where it pushes up oil that’s been left over by previous, traditional operations.
The second project will “demonstrate the feasibility” of a geopressured-geothermal power plant in Cameron Parish. Louisiana Geothermal, which oversees the power plant operations of the Sweet Lake Geopressured-Geothermal Project, also landed $5 million in federal stimulus money earlier this year. Research suggests there’s enough of this alternative energy source in the ground in the Cameron Parish area to last more than 130 years.
The third project creates what is being called the Natural Geothermal Data System, an integrated distributed and searchable data system of state-specific geothermal data. It’s expected to spur renewed efforts to identify, assess and exploit geothermal energy resources in the United States.
Chacko John, state geologist and LGS director, says all of the projects are establishing a framework for would could be a new economic development driver in the Bayou State. “We have known for a long time that there is tremendous potential for geothermal energy production on the Gulf Coast,” says John. “With the right economic conditions, and with today’s emphasis on alternative energy resources, and increasing energy costs, this could be a potential boon for Louisiana.”
... written by Jason D. Faulk , December 08, 2009 - 01:10 am
It's about time to see some progress on the clean energy and jobs development program here in Louisiana. (Too bad LPUA rejected the money to match the SmartGrid grant)
Ball State University in our fellow Catholic majority state of Indiana is developing the largest geothermal plant in the USA, to power it's campus. http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/18167
First, they're doing this because their coal plant is polluting, it's old and needing replacing and because the cost of doing the same thing they had before was MORE than going green. So Two, because it just makes fiscal sense.
Also, the more we appreciate that investing money in energy efficiency allows us to cut the waste out (the pork if you will) then the easier it is to fathom the idea that increasing our renewable energy systems to 20% of current production by 2020-2030 will be sufficient to power all of the needs of our economy...because the other 80% will have been wrung out of the system by then through efficiency upgrades.
The US already has significant nuclear, hydro and gas power systems, along with some solar, and a good bit of wind. The coal we get eliminate feasibly, that is at least 1/2 of all domestic power generation.
It's too easy to get stuck in this mentality of everything having a cost,...sometimes there is an opportunity cost, not a reducing cost to doing business.
Seriously, did anyone see the articles about industrial upgrades around Louisiana making plants more efficient?
Here's an article from McKinsey company which references Dow's efforts to achieve return on investment through efficiency. http://www.mckinsey.com/clientservice/ccsi/pdf/Amory_Lovins_Int.pdf
and here is what UL's Industrial Assessment Center has done for industrial design to achieve energy efficiency... http://www.louisiana.edu/Advancement/PRNS/lala/2009-SPRG/engineering.pdf $173 million in savings.
You must be logged in to post a comment. Log in using your Facebook account or register if you do not have an account yet.
Is it a crime for citizens to photograph, video, or take notes of a police officer in the line of duty, or a right protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution? Locally, such activity, as witnessed recently, will at the very least result in a night spent behind bars.
David Calhoun and Elizabeth “EB” Brooks are the first two employees of Lafayette Central Park Inc., the nonprofit charged with turning Lafayette Consolidated Government’s 100-acre Johnston Street Horse Farm property into a passive public park. Calhoun was named executive director, and Brooks is director of planning and design.
At Thursday's State of the Economy luncheon, LEDA President and CEO Gregg Gothreaux said PXP has already quietly hired 180 people for its Broussard expansion.
Episcopal School of Acadiana’s Dr. Joshua Caffery, chair of the school’s English Department, is headed to Washington, D.C., and the Library of Congress as the latest winner of the Alan Lomax Fellowship in Folklife Studies.
This year’s Cool Town issue is all about people who are not native to South Louisiana but made a conscious decision to be here, to be among us, to participate in our culture and contribute to it.
A shelved ordinance transferring $200,000 from a northside drainage project to a south Lafayette development may not break any laws, but it stinks to high heaven.
An effort to restore a shuttered dancehall and document other vacant or razed honky-tonks could serve as a model for saving an endangered species of entertainment.
Lafayette’s gene pool has been host to a long line of eccentric characters who have blurred the lines between crazy, genius, disturbed and curiously entertaining.
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Ball State University in our fellow Catholic majority state of Indiana is developing the largest geothermal plant in the USA, to power it's campus.
http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/18167
First, they're doing this because their coal plant is polluting, it's old and needing replacing and because the cost of doing the same thing they had before was MORE than going green. So Two, because it just makes fiscal sense.
Also, the more we appreciate that investing money in energy efficiency allows us to cut the waste out (the pork if you will) then the easier it is to fathom the idea that increasing our renewable energy systems to 20% of current production by 2020-2030 will be sufficient to power all of the needs of our economy...because the other 80% will have been wrung out of the system by then through efficiency upgrades.
The US already has significant nuclear, hydro and gas power systems, along with some solar, and a good bit of wind. The coal we get eliminate feasibly, that is at least 1/2 of all domestic power generation.
It's too easy to get stuck in this mentality of everything having a cost,...sometimes there is an opportunity cost, not a reducing cost to doing business.
Seriously, did anyone see the articles about industrial upgrades around Louisiana making plants more efficient?
Here's an article from McKinsey company which references Dow's efforts to achieve return on investment through efficiency.
http://www.mckinsey.com/clientservice/ccsi/pdf/Amory_Lovins_Int.pdf
and here is what UL's Industrial Assessment Center has done for industrial design to achieve energy efficiency...
http://www.louisiana.edu/Advancement/PRNS/lala/2009-SPRG/engineering.pdf
$173 million in savings.