Carnegie Mellon University
February 24, 2011

Press Release: Carnegie Mellon Professor Edward S. Rubin Helps California Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Review Panel Recommends Agencies Recognize Carbon Capture and Storage as Effective Measure

Contact: Chriss Swaney / 412-268-5776 / swaney@andrew.cmu.edu

ed rubinPITTSBURGH—Carnegie Mellon University's Edward S. Rubin was recently tapped to help guide California's policy on the long-term geologic storage of carbon dioxide to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
     
While the U.S. still lacks a national climate policy, California has strict state-level requirements to reduce global warming pollution over the next decade and beyond. "Carbon capture and storage is one of the key strategies that industries in California will need to significantly reduce future emissions of greenhouse gases," said Rubin, the Alumni Professor of Environmental Engineering and Science and a professor of engineering and public policy and mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon.
        
Rubin has been serving on the Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Review Panel — a select panel formed last year by the commissioners of three agencies including: the California Energy Commission (CEC), the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and the California Air Resources Board (CARB). The nine-member panel of experts from industry, academia, trade groups and environmental organizations recently issued their recommendations on California policy for CCS.
         
Rubin reports that the panel recommended that California agencies recognize regulated carbon capture and storage as a measure that can safely and effectively reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and other facilities in the state. The panel also recommends that the CEC should coordinate the permitting of all such projects, and that the CARB should define accounting rules and procedures that will allow carbon reductions to be valued and counted for compliance with California's climate regulations.
      
"California has always been at the forefront of environmental quality, energy efficiency and clean energy development, and that will surely continue under the state's climate policy," said Rubin, who was selected for the panel because of his expertise in carbon capture and his strong interest and accomplishments in developing energy and environmental policy. "If done right, carbon capture and storage can be a valuable and cost-effective addition to the set of measures available to California and the nation to deal with the urgency of the climate change problem," Rubin said. 
        
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