New York Energy & Environmental Funders

Hosting Sponsor:
Torys LLP

Global Research Technology, LLC is commercializing the only technology currently available to reduce past emissions of CO2. The Air-Capture units extract CO2 from ambient air. They do not have to be located near the source of emissions and can therefore be placed where the CO2 will be used or stored.

Stationary carbon capture, by contrast, often employs the so-called "post-combustion" method, generally at power plants, separating CO2 from hot flue gases before they are emitted from the flue stack. Both stationary capture and air-capture use sorbents to capture CO2 from an air stream. Both processes have steps to then separate out, clean and pressurize the CO2 product.

Stationary capture technologies aim to capture CO2 as it is being produced at the site of combustion. Air-capture is different in that it collects the CO2 that is already in the air. Typically, the air-capture unit will be at a different location from the source of CO2 emissions.

Air-capture can reduce CO2 concentrations from any source, including emissions from point sources, from dispersed human sources such as automobiles and airplanes, and from natural sources like forest fires and volcanoes. Unlike stationary capture, air-capture can address past emissions which are a growing component of current carbon dioxide concentrations.

Carbon dioxide from air-capture will serve both existing commercial markets and open new markets for CO2. Controlled environment agriculture (CEA greenhouses) and algae cultivation (biofuel feedstock) are exciting possibilities where increasing the level of CO2 enhances plant productivity and quality of the produce (vegetables, fruit or flowers). CO2 is already an important industrial chemical with a myriad of end-uses ranging from food processing and food transportation to enhanced oil recovery. Other uses include water treatment, plastic and rubber foaming, fire extinguisher fluid, dry ice for metal cleaning/blasting and fumigants in grain storage. In the end, to the degree the captured CO2 can not be used, it will be permanently stored in what is referred to as carbon capture and storage (CCS) or simply carbon sequestration.

Klaus S. Lackner, Ph.D., Scientific Adviser and Chairman, will explain the technology, its role potential place in the future of carbon capture, and the business model.

Sector Expert: Andy Dvoracek, a Director at Greenhouse Gas Service, LLC, will discuss Air Capture's revenue potential from the sale of carbon credits.

Date: Friday, October 10, 2008
Time: 8:00 – 10:00 am
Place: Torys LLP
237 Park Ave. (Enter at 466 Lexington Ave, between 45th & 46th Streets)
New York City, 20th Floor
202-662-2700

Security: Tell the personnel at the security desk in the ground floor lobby that you re attending the Center for Economic and Environmental Partnership, Inc. meeting at Torys LLP. You will need personal ID. They will issue a pass.

Cost: $50 if you pre-register.
Cash or checks (payable to CEEP) accepted. Must register or cancel by 4pm the previous day. No shows will be invoiced.
$60 if you pay at the door.
See below for Annual Registration opportunities and other important conditions.

Agenda:
8:00 to 8:20 – Networking with Members
8:30 to 9:00 – Presentation by Klaus S. Lackner, Ph.D., Scientific Adviser and Chairman
9:00 to 9:30 – Presentation by Sector Expert: TBA
9:30 to 10:00 – Discussion and Networking

Thank you, and we look forward to seeing you at the next NY Funders meeting.

If you have any questions about registration or need more information about the program, please contact Gelvin Stevenson at gelvin@optonline.net.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES:

Klaus S. Lackner, Ph.D., Scientific Adviser and Chairman, earned three degrees from Heidelberg University, Germany, culminating with a Ph.D. in theoretical particle physics, summa cum laude, in 1978. He won the Clemm-Haas Price for outstanding Ph. D. thesis at Heidelberg University.

Prof. Lackner joined the faculty of Columbia University in 2001, where he is now the Ewing-Worzel Professor of Geophysics in the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering. He held postdoctoral positions at the California Institute of Technology and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center before joining Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1983. He has been a scientist in the Theoretical Division for much of that time, but has also been part of the Laboratory's upper management.

Klaus Lackner's scientific career started in the phenomenology of weakly interacting particles. Later searching for quarks, he and George Zweig developed the chemistry of atoms with fractional nuclear charge. He is still participating in matter searches for particles with a non-integer charge in an experiment conducted at Stanford by Martin Perl and his group. After joining Los Alamos National Laboratory, Klaus Lackner became involved in hydrodynamic work and fusion related research. In recent years, he has published on the behavior of high explosives, novel approaches to inertial confinement fusion, and numerical algorithms. His interest in self-replicating machine systems has been recognized by Discover Magazine as one of seven ideas that could change the world. Presently he is developing innovative approaches to energy issues of the future. He has been instrumental in forming ZECA, the Zero Emission Coal Alliance, which is an industry-led effort to develop coal power with zero emissions to the atmosphere. His recent work is on environmentally acceptable technologies for the use of fossil fuels.

Andy Dvoracek is a Director at Greenhouse Gas Service, LLC. a GE/AES Venture, where he coordinates origination of Voluntary Emissions Reduction (VER) projects in the United States and Canada. Mr. Dvoracek specializes in agricultural/industrial wastewater, methane avoidance based renewable energy, and energy efficiency based projects. Mr. Dvoracek has extensive international based knowledge of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) which is used to help bolster US voluntary action. He has experience in project development, due diligence, and emissions trading market analysis. Prior to joining Greenhouse Gas Services, Mr. Dvoracek worked as a Sr. Client Manager at EcoSecurities where he managed both domestic and international emissions reduction projects. He has also worked within Swiss Re's greenhouse gas/ renewable markets division, completed projects in domestic greenhouse gas mitigation, and was a consultant analyzing CDM transaction costs for the United Nations Division for Sustainable Development. Mr. Dvoracek was a Peace Corps volunteer in El Salvador, working on sustainable agriculture, erosion control, and disaster mitigation; he speaks Spanish fluently and has traveled extensively throughout Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Southern Africa. Mr. Dvoracek holds a Bachelor's degree in Biology and Environmental Science from Saint John's University (MN), and a Masters of Public Administration in Environmental Policy and Management from Columbia University's School for International and Public Affairs (SIPA).

Advisory Board

Mark Austin, Chandler-Reed
John Cusack, Gifford Park Associates
Ira Rubenstein, CEEP, Inc.
Gelvin Stevenson, Ph.D., CEEP, Inc.

NYE&EF Pricing Policy
1. Cost, with pre-registration up to 4pm the day before the meeting: $50.
2. No-shows will be invoiced.
3. Cancellations allowed until 4pm the day before the meeting.
4. Cost, with registration at the door the day of the meeting: $60.
5. All paid registrants will be emailed any information made available electronically for that meeting.
6. An Annual Registration for NYE&EF can be purchased for $400. It will provide admittance to all regularly scheduled meetings held during a 12-month period.
7. Annual registrants will be emailed any information made available electronically for any of the regularly scheduled meetings covered by their annual registration.

Formed in October 2001, New York Energy & Environmental Funders (NYE&EF) is a joint service of Investors Circle, the Energy & Environmental Capital Network (ECN), the Environmental Business Association of New York State, Inc. (EBA/NYS) and Investors Circle. NYE&EF provides networking, information, and other services to investors interested in energy and environmental companies. NYE&EF activities are produced by the Center for Economic and Environmental Partnership, Inc. (CEEP) in furtherance of its educational mission.

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