On carbon footprints and growing energy use

Could fractional reductions in the carbon footprint of a growing organization lead to a corresponding real reduction in atmospheric CO{sub 2} emissions in the next ten years? Curtis M. Oldenburg, head of the Geologic Carbon Sequestration Program of LBNL’s Earth Sciences Division, considers his own organization's carbon footprint and answers this critical question? In addressing the problem of energy-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change, it is essential that we understand which activities are producing GHGs and the scale of emission for each activity, so that reduction efforts can be efficiently targeted. The GHG emissions to the atmosphere of an individual or group are referred to as the ‘carbon footprint’. This terminology is entirely appropriate, because 85% of the global marketed energy supply comes from carbon-rich fossil fuel sources whose combustion produces CO{sub 2}, the main GHG causing global climate change. Furthermore, the direct relation between CO2 emissions and fossil fuels as they are used today makes energy consumption a useful proxy for carbon footprint. It would seem to be a simple matter to reduce energy consumption across the board, both individually and collectively, to help reduce our carbon footprints and therefore solve the energyclimate crisis. But just how much can we reduce carbon footprints when broader forces, such as growth in energy use, cause the total footprint to simultaneously expand? In this feature, I present a calculation of the carbon footprint of the Earth Sciences Division (ESD), the division in which I work at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), and discuss the potential for reducing this carbon footprint. It will be apparent that in terms of potential future carbon footprint reductions under projections of expected growth, ESD may be thought of as a microcosm of the situation of the world as a whole, in which alternatives to the business-as-usual use of fossil fuels are needed if absolute GHG emission reductions are to be achieved

Application of TOUGH2/EOS7R to modeling of radionuclide release from a low/intermediate level repository under two-phase conditions

The generation of gas due to corrosion of repository waste packages under water-saturated conditions will give rise to pressure increases and two-phase flow conditions. We have developed a numerical simulator TOUGH2/EOS7R for modeling the two-phase flow and transport of a parent-daughter pair of radionuclides including the processes of adsorption, first-order decay, binary diffusion, and volatilization. TOUGH2/EOS7R is a descendant of EOS7, the water, brine and air module of TOUGH2. We apply TOUGH2/EOS7R to an example problem relevant to the disposal of low- and intermediate-level nuclear wastes in crystalline rock. The conceptual model and spatial discretization were provided to us by NAGRA. We demonstrate in preliminary simulations that to good approximation, the generation of hydrogen can be modeled using air as a proxy for hydrogen. Simulations of gas generation and subsequent flow and transport away from the repository demonstrate the use and flexibility of TOUGH2/EOS7R. By small modification in the code, users can printout data for calculating the fractional release curve (FR curve), which shows the instantaneous release rate from the repository

Analysis of Injection-Induced Micro-Earthquakes in a Geothermal Steam Reservoir, The Geysers Geothermal Field, California

In this study we analyze relative contributions to the cause and mechanism of injection-induced micro-earthquakes (MEQs) at The Geysers geothermal field, California. We estimated the potential for inducing seismicity by coupled thermal-hydrological-mechanical analysis of the geothermal steam production and cold water injection to calculate changes in stress (in time and space) and investigated if those changes could induce a rock mechanical failure and associated MEQs. An important aspect of the analysis is the concept of a rock mass that is critically stressed for shear failure. This means that shear stress in the region is near the rock-mass frictional strength, and therefore very small perturbations of the stress field can trigger an MEQ. Our analysis shows that the most important cause for injection-induced MEQs at The Geysers is cooling and associated thermal-elastic shrinkage of the rock around the injected fluid that changes the stress state in such a way that mechanical failure and seismicity can be induced. Specifically, the cooling shrinkage results in unloading and associated loss of shear strength in critically shear-stressed fractures, which are then reactivated. Thus, our analysis shows that cooling-induced shear slip along fractures is the dominant mechanism of injection-induced MEQs at The Geysers

Measuring and Modeling Fault Density for Plume-Fault Encounter Probability Estimation

Emission of carbon dioxide from fossil-fueled power generation stations contributes to global climate change. Storage of this carbon dioxide within the pores of geologic strata (geologic carbon storage) is one approach to mitigating the climate change that would otherwise occur. The large storage volume needed for this mitigation requires injection into brine-filled pore space in reservoir strata overlain by cap rocks. One of the main concerns of storage in such rocks is leakage via faults. In the early stages of site selection, site-specific fault coverages are often not available. This necessitates a method for using available fault data to develop an estimate of the likelihood of injected carbon dioxide encountering and migrating up a fault, primarily due to buoyancy. Fault population statistics provide one of the main inputs to calculate the encounter probability. Previous fault population statistics work is shown to be applicable to areal fault density statistics. This result is applied to a case study in the southern portion of the San Joaquin Basin with the result that the probability of a carbon dioxide plume from a previously planned injection had a 3% chance of encountering a fully seal offsetting fault

Theoretical and experimental investigations of ferrofluids for guiding and detecting liquids in the subsurface. FY 1997 annual report

Ferrofluids are stable colloidal suspensions of magnetic particles in various carrier liquids with high saturation magnetizations, which can be manipulated in virtually any fashion, defying gravitational or viscous forces in response to external magnetic fields. In this report, the authors review the results of their investigation of the potential of ferrofluids (1) to accurately and effectively guide reactants (for in-situ treatment) or barrier liquids (low-viscosity permeation grouts) to contaminated target zones in the subsurface using electromagnetic forces, and (2) to trace the movement and position of liquids injected in the subsurface using geophysical methods. They investigate the use of ferrofluids to enhance the efficiency of in-situ treatment and waste containment through (a) accurate guidance and delivery of reagent liquids to the desired subsurface contamination targets and/or (b) effective sweeping of the contaminated zone as ferrofluids move from the application point to an attracting magnet/collection point. They also investigate exploiting the strong magnetic signature of ferrofluids to develop a method for monitoring of liquid movement and position during injection using electromagnetic methods. The authors demonstrated the ability to induce ferrofluid movement in response to a magnetic field, and measured the corresponding magnetopressure. They demonstrated the feasibility of using conventional magnetometry for detecting subsurface zones of various shapes containing ferrofluids for tracing liquids injected for remediation or barrier formation. Experiments involving spherical, cylindrical and horizontal slabs showed a very good agreement between predictions and measurements

Pressure perturbations from geologic carbon sequestration: Area-of-review boundaries and borehole leakage driving forces

We investigate the possibility that brine could be displaced upward into potable water through wells. Because of the large volumes of CO2 to be injected, the influence of the zone of elevated pressure on potential conduits such as well boreholes could extend many kilometers from the injection site-farther than the CO2 plume itself. The traditional approach to address potential brine leakage related to fluid injection is to set an area of fixed radius around the injection well/zone and to examine wells and other potentially open pathways located in the ''Area-of-Review'' (AoR). This suggests that the AoR eeds to be defined in terms of the potential for a given pressure perturbation to drive upward fluid flow in any given system rather than on some arbitrary pressure rise. We present an analysis that focuses on the changes in density/salinity of the fluids in the potentially leaking wellbore

T2Well/ECO2N Version 1.0: Multiphase and Non-Isothermal Model for Coupled Wellbore-Reservoir Flow of Carbon Dioxide and Variable Salinity Water

At its most basic level, the injection of CO{sub 2} into geologic CO{sub 2} storage sites involves a system comprising the wellbore and the target reservoir. The wellbore is the only conduit available to emplace CO{sub 2} into reservoirs for long-term storage. At the same time, wellbores in general have been identified as the most likely conduit for CO{sub 2} and brine leakage from geologic carbon sequestration (GCS) sites, especially those in sedimentary basins with historical hydrocarbon production. We have developed a coupled wellbore and reservoir model for simulating the dynamics of CO{sub 2} injection and leakage through wellbores. The model describes the following processes: (1) upward or downward wellbore flow of CO{sub 2} and variable salinity water with transition from supercritical to gaseous CO{sub 2} including Joule-Thomson cooling, (2) exsolution of CO{sub 2} from the aqueous phase as pressure drops, and (3) cross flow into or interaction with layers of surrounding rock (reservoirs). We use the Drift-Flux Model and related conservation equations for describing transient two-phase non-isothermal wellbore flow of CO{sub 2}-water mixtures under different flow regimes and interacting with surrounding rock. The mass and thermal energy balance equations are solved numerically by a finite difference scheme with wellbore heat transmission to the surrounding rock handled either semi-analytically or numerically. The momentum balance equation for the flow in the wellbore is solved numerically with a semi-explicit scheme. This manual provides instructions for compilation and use of the new model, and presents some example problems to demonstrate its use

Wellbore flow model for carbon dioxide and brine

Wellbores have been identified as the most likely conduit for CO{sub 2} and brine leakage from geologic carbon sequestration (GCS) sites, especially those in sedimentary basins with historical hydrocarbon production. In order to quantify the impacts of leakage of CO{sub 2} and brine through wellbores, we have developed a wellbore simulator capable of describing non-isothermal open well flow dynamics of CO{sub 2}-brine mixtures. The mass and thermal energy balance equations are solved numerically by a finite difference scheme with wellbore heat transmission handled semianalytically. This new wellbore simulator can take as input the pressure, saturation, and composition conditions from reservoir simulators and calculate CO{sub 2} and brine fluxes needed to assess impacts to vulnerable resources. This new capability is being incorporated into the Certification Framework (CF) developed for risk assessment of GCS sites