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From Diogenes Institute

The Diogenes Institute is dedicated to data-driven policy analysis and planning.

Active Analysis

A Comprehensive Plan for Energy Independence and the Environment

Due to emergent conditions, Diogenes Institute's current emphasis is the development of a data-driven, cross-disciplinary and comprehensive plan for energy independence and the environment.

• Greenhouse gas emissions
  • COx, NOx and SOx gases and heavy metal emissions need to be dramatically reduced. If the production of electricity can be made effectively non-emitting, then substitution of electrical energy for petroleum burning will also reduce the carbon footprint and the 60% of US COx production (6.0E+12kg of COx/year) that results from current electrical power generation can be eliminated.
  • The only large-scale use proposed for CO2 is re-injection into oil wells for purposes of secondary recovery. If every possible milliliter of CO2 produced at precisely the right location from electric generation were used for this purpose, you still could not use more than 20% of the CO2 thereby produced.
  • Thus, COx is largely valueless at present. It is not worth the approximately $0.0296/kWh to capture and dispose of the COx.
  • By co-producing ammonia and by using the NH3 and COx to produce algae for protein-rich feed for fish, poultry and livestock (see algae system description and preliminary spreadsheet) it is possible to realize a profit of $0.0882/kWh which now makes it profitable to recover the COx and reduce all emission to near zero.
    • Lower fossil fuel imports by converting baseload electric plants to modified IGCC so as to capture pure CO2 with no other emissions.
    • Use the liquid nitrogen by-product to replace natural gas turbines as the primary energy vector for peak load generation.
    • Use ammonia to photosynthetically fix all fossil fuel electrical plant CO2 in marketable products, such as algal protein, that will pay for the cost of capture.
    • FutureGen Prime Elex Cost With CO2 and NH3 Sales ($/kWh) is $-0.0209/kWh.
    • Use off-peak electrical capacity to synthesize ammonia replacing power lines with ammonia pipelines.
  • As a result, dealing with global warming will be an economic stimulant, rather than rather than a drag.
    • 1.63E+6 direct skilled jobs.
    • 2.04E+6 direct unskilled jobs.
    • 1.39E+7 total jobs including indirect jobs.
    • $1.99E+11 profit that is directly added to the GDP. $3.64E+11 with economic multiplier.
• Petroleum Imports
  • The United States imports over $700 billion dollars per year in petroleum and import cost is increasing.
  • $1 million GDP = 11.2 full time jobs. Imports are subtracted from GDP. Imported petroleum is costing the United States approximately 8 million jobs.
  • The prevailing approach to reducing oil imports is to focus on reducing the consumption of fuel by automobiles and trucks. While these are the largest consumers of petroleum, it is possible to reduce imports by addressing other uses and by displacing petroleum powered transportation with electrically powered transportation.
  • Replace short-haul air and medium distance road transportation with multi-grade, electrified rail service to state capitals and universities as well as major cities.