http://www.sciencedirect.com/
Keep your eyes on the door and your backs against a wall.
Carbon Dioxide, as we've documented, for just a few examples, in:
West Virginia Coal Association | California July 2012 Efficient CO2 to Methanol | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 8,212,088 - Efficient and Selective Chemical Recycling of Carbon Dioxide to Methanol, Dimethyl Ether and Derived Products; Date: July 3, 2012;Inventors: George Olah and G.K. Surya Prakash, CA; Assignee: University of Southern California, Los Angeles; Abstract: An efficient and environmentally beneficial method of recycling andproducing methanol from varied sources of carbon dioxide including flue gases of fossil fuel burning powerplants, industrial exhaust gases or the atmosphere itself. Converting carbon dioxide by chemical or electrochemical reduction secondary treatment to produce essentially methanol, dimethyl ether and derived products"; and:
West Virginia Coal Association | August 13, 2013 Power Plant CO2 to High-Octane Gasoline | Research & Development; concerning:"US Patent 8,506,910 - Process and System for Producing Liquid Fuel from Carbon Dioxide and Water;2013; Assignee: CRI Ehf, Iceland; Abstract: A process and system for producing high octane fuel from carbon dioxide and water is disclosed. The feedstock for the production line is industrial carbon dioxide and water, which may be of lower quality. The end product can be high octane gasoline, high cetane diesel or other liquid hydrocarbon mixtures suitable for driving conventional combustion engines"; and:
West Virginia Coal Association | Audi is Using Renewable Energy to Convert CO2 into Methane | Research & Development; concerning, in part, the news release: "'Audi E-Gas Plant Uses CO2, Renewables to Make Fuel'; Audi is building an industrial plant in Werlte, Germany, which will use renewable energy and carbon dioxide to make synthetic methane fuel. The plant will use power-to-gas technology to make so-called e-gas for vehicles, such as the new Audi A3 Sportback TCNG. E-gas made at the plant can be distributed to compressed natural gas stations via Germany’s natural gas network and will power vehicles starting next year, Audi said. The e-gas plant, which has the capacity to convert six MW of power, will use renewable electricity for electrolysis. The process splits water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen ... . (The) plant takes the hydrogen and reacts it with CO2 in a methanation unit to generate renewable synthetic methane";
is a valuable, maybe even a precious, raw material resource which can be utilized and consumed in the synthesis of any and all forms of liquid and gaseous hydrocarbon fuels.
And, Solar energy, as emphasized again in:
West Virginia Coal Association | USDOE Solar Thermochemical CO2-to-Fuel | Research & Development; concerning: "Solar Fuel Production Through The Thermochemical Decomposition of Carbon Dioxide; Nathan P. Siegel, et. al., Sandia National Laboratories (USDOE), Albuquerque, NM USA; Abstract: Solar energy systems ... benefit from an energy storage mechanism that decouples the solar resource from the load, enabling operation when the resource is unavailable. ... Storing solar energy in the form of chemical fuels offers (an) energy dense storage mechanism that enables the utilization of solar energy to address the energy needs of the transportation sector. Concentrating solar power (CSP) systems are capable of operating at the elevated temperatures needed to drive thermochemical reactions that convert the stable combustion products, carbon dioxide and water, first into synthesis gas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, and then into liquid hydrocarbon fuels such as methanol, gasoline, and jet fuel" and:
West Virginia Coal Association | USDOE Sunlight Converts CO2 into Methane | Research & Development; concerning: "US Patent Application 20130079577 - Synthesis of Photocatalysts for Solar Fuel Generation; 2013; Inventor: Brian Ingram, et. al., IL and TN; Assignee: UChicago Argonne, LLC, Chicago; (Argonne National Laboratory ...is one of the U.S. Department of Energy's largest national laboratories for scientific and engineering research. ... Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science); Abstract: In one preferred embodiment, a photocatalyst for conversion of carbon dioxide and water to a hydrocarbon and oxygen ... . Government Interests: The United States Government has rights in this invention pursuant to Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357 between the United States Government and UChicago Argonne, LLC representing Argonne National Laboratory. Claims: A photocatalyst for conversion of carbon dioxide and water into a hydrocarbon and oxygen (and, a) method of converting carbon dioxide and water into a hydrocarbon and oxygen comprising exposing a gaseous mixture of carbon dioxide and water to sun light in the presence of a photocatalyst ... Background and Field: This invention relates to the energy efficient photocatalytic conversion of carbon dioxide gas and water vapor to methane and other hydrocarbon fuels, particularly promoted by sunlight";is increasingly specified as the direct or - - via the intermediate generation of heat, or of photo-electricity, or of wind or hydro potential - - indirect driver of such CO2-to-Hydrocarbon synthesis reactions.
And, the hydrocarbons thus made from Carbon Dioxide are increasingly referred to as "Solar Fuels".
Although none of that is being reported to you by your public media, and you are thus being left totally in the dark about the vast economic potentials being opened up by exploiting the technologies for reclaiming Carbon Dioxide from the environment and, then - - using environmental energy of one sort or another, now more often than not Solar, to drive the processes - - converting that CO2 in combination with Hydrogen extracted from the Water molecule into any all sorts of gaseous and liquid hydrocarbons, the immense value of it all has begun to attract the notice of a group that should make us all cover our wallet pockets with our hands and clutch our purses tighter:
Lawyers.
International debate among the shadowy Doctors of Jurisprudence has flickered to life over who actually owns both the Carbon Dioxide resource that floats freely in the air around us and the universal sunlight that beams - - sometimes in Coal Country with disappointing infrequency - - down upon all of us, and, thus, over who should benefit and profit from the valuable products which can be made from Carbon Dioxide in processes driven by Solar energy, aka "Solar Fuels".
Seriously.
And, once the attorney's get involved, based on our own tragic personal experience, you will be unable to count on help from any quarter - - not your friends, not your church, not your elected representatives, not those charged with law enforcement - - to defend and protect you against their predations.
But, maybe all lawyers aren't bad - - although we do urge that, if you do have to deal with one, you make it take off it's hat, shoes, and drawers, so that you can check it for horns, hooves and tails - - since, herein, they seem to be, while carving out a place for themselves at the table, providing a warning about "grabs" for rights to CO2-based Solar Fuels by both individual governments and by multinational corporations.
First, if you're unfamiliar with the history, perhaps it would be enlightening to learn a little bit about the centuries-long jockeying for legal advantage over what most would think of as a common, natural resource that seems freely available and should be owned by all:
Water.
Here's one interpretation of the right to water:
State Water Resources Control Board; "A water right is a legal entitlement authorizing water to be diverted from a specified source and put to beneficial, nonwasteful use. Water rights are property rights, but their holders do not own the water itself. They possess the right to use it. The exercise of some water rights requires a permit or license from the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board), whose objective is to ensure that the State’s waters are put to the best possible use, and that the public interest is served".
And, here's an indication of how involving "the law" can complicate what would seem a simple human right to a natural resource that moves and doesn't, unless artificially restrained by physical structures or human laws, in and off itself, recognize property boundaries:
Water School | Who has water rights in Texas?; "Who has water rights in Texas? Water rights in Texas are complicated. They date back to Spanish colonial law, but also include influences from English common law, a history of state legislation as well as judicial decisions. Water rights in Texas are further complicated because ground and surface water rights are approached differently. Generally, water rights law determine who can use water, how much may be used and for what purpose".
So valuable is water, and so egregious is the legal water grab, that, as seen in:
Ocean privatization - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; "Ocean privatization is the sale of the oceansto private individuals or companies";
even rights to the oceans, as vast as they are, might be up for sale and "privatization" by "companies"; and, as can be learned from Seattle, Washington, in:
Whatcom County homeowners fear loss of water rights | KING5.com Seattle; "Homeowners Fear Loss of Water Rights";
even in areas of the country noted for their temperate coastal rainforests, individuals aren't secure in their rights of access to an abundant natural resource.
And, make no mistake, so valuable is the natural resource of Carbon Dioxide, and, maybe, even of Sunshine, that the lawyers have taken notice, and have begun to set the stage for legal wrangling over the ownership of, over the rights to, the Carbon Dioxide floating in the ocean of air around us, and of the Sunshine gleaming down upon us - - legal wrangling that might provide yet more spin-off income for generations of attorneys yet, ominously, to come.
But, again, as we urged above, note, as well, that, as unpleasant as we might see the meddling of lawyers, they are, herein, warning us all of something else when it comes to the future of Solar Fuels made from Sunshine, Water and Carbon Dioxide:
Ownership grabs by major multinational corporations.
As witnessed by excerpts from the initial link in this dispatch to:
"Exploring International Legal Governance of Global Solar Fuels
July, 2012
Thomas Faunce, College of Medicine, Biology and the Environment and College of Law,
Australian National University, Canberra
Abstract: This paper critically examines the role of international law in establishing the appropriate governance framework for enhanced global collaboration on solar fuels. It will particularly evaluate the right to enjoy the benefit of scientific progress and its applications (REBSPA) in article 15 of the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Consideration will also be given to the role of declaring natural and artificial photosynthesis 'common heritage of mankind' under a UNESCO Declaration and ultimately a United Nations Convention and the impact this might have in relation to intellectual monopoly privileges (IMPs) such as patents and their capacity to advance or hinder progress in the field. It also briefly considers the role that trade and investment law and the possibility of a global carbon price may have in shaping the solar fuels field.
1. Exploring the international legal framework for global solar fuels
There are many components of international governance regimes to which a Global Solar Fuel (GSF) initiative would be directly relevant. These could either assist to create such an initiative or work to prevent or impede it.
Probably in the former category is the 2009 Copenhagen Accord a non-binding political agreement (wherein) all major CO2-emitting countries agreed to a target of keeping global warming to less than 2 degrees C above pre-industrial levels. It contained important undertakings concerning mitigation including the Copenhagen Green Climate Fund and establishing a mechanism to accelerate renewable energy technology development and transfer.
Other important internationally agreed targets to reduce poverty and lack of necessary fuel and food, to encourage environmental sustainability and global technological cooperation are expressed in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Principles supporting similar goals (and directed to individuals, communities and private corporations and well as States ... appear in the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights ... .
(Dang! There's a lot, as above, to love here - what with lawyers and world government - ain't there?)
Other international law concepts that could be influential in fleshing out governance-wise the concept of planetary nanomedicine are those that may declare Global Artificial Photosynthesis a global public good, an aspect of technology sharing obligations, or those arising under the international right to health (set out for example in article 12 of the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights).
The UNESCO Declaration on the Responsibilities of the Present Generations Towards Future Generations expresses a concept of planetary common heritage ... (The present generation has) the responsibility to bequeath to future generations an Earth which will not one day be irreversibly damaged by human activity. Each generation inheriting the Earth temporarily should take care to use natural resources reasonably and ensure that life is not prejudiced by harmful modifications of the ecosystems ... .
2. International trade and investment law and global solar fuels
Yet international trade, and more particularly international trade and investment law, lies at the heart of the corporate globalisation process driven by a very different set of norms, by which foreign capital takes advantage of abundant natural resources (particularly timber, oil, coal and minerals) or cheap labour, to manufacture products for distribution and profitable sale throughout the world using road, rail, sea and air freight transport, reduced tariffs and mass marketing techniques.
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is headquartered in Geneva near many of the United Nations human rights organisations with which it normatively has so little in common. The WTO is comprised of a secretariat and public officials from nation states who have been involved in agreements (such as the Trade Related Intellectual Property (or TRIPS) agreement and the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) by which those states agree to not merely reduce various trade barriers, but to allow supranational corporations to take control of major national assets (such as intellectual property, hospital and health services, water, agriculture, power-generation and manufacturing) in a way that is very hard to undo (due to the compensation to corporate stakeholders that must be paid by taxpayers).
What has been created in other words is a supranational corporation-controlled legal system that is pushing global governance in directions different to those of democratic-based community and civil society institutions committed to societal virtues such as justice, equity and, increasingly, environmental sustainability.
A particular tactic of particular concern as a potential obstacle to global roll-out of GSF (Global Solar Fuels based on CO2) products are attempts by supranational corporations to influence global governance regimes by means of so-called "Inventor State" dispute settlement provisions... (which, despite agreements intended to stop them) have nonetheless proliferated in a series of bilateral and regional arrangements. Basically they allow supranational corporations to sue (before small panels of commercial arbitration lawyers with little understanding of or desire to apply international public law) other nations who have imposed governance requirements (even when in the public health and environmental interest based on good scientific evidence) if their commercial interests are thereby impeded.Investor-state provisions surfaced ... in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the United States (US), Canada and Mexico.They are now part of over 2000 bilateral investment treaties. They grant investors covered by them a right to initiate dispute settlement proceedings (before a panel of trade lawyers known as commercial arbiters) for damages against foreign governments in their own right.
Should Global Solar Fuel products begin to look as if they are likely to replace those upon which supranational corporations have substantial investments (in say old photosynthesis fuels or electricity distribution networks), then those corporations may well resort to investor state mechanisms to protect their profits and inhibit the roll-out.
(In other words, multinational, or "supranational", corporations who might feel their businesses are threatened by the entrance into the marketplace of hydrocarbon fuels made from Water and Carbon Dioxide, in processes powered by Sunlight, might use their attorneys, and one would presume other methods, like political influence, as well, to prevent open implementation of such CO2-to-Fuel technologies.)
3. Natural and artificial photosynthesis as the common heritage of humanity
An enhanced global policy focus on solar fuels may involve facilitated collaboration between existing networks or works towards a macroscience Global Solar Fuel Project (GSF). In either case international law may provide an important governance framework.
A GSF Project governance structure emphasizing international law might protect photosynthesis from excessive patents promoting inequitable or unsustainable use within the class of United Nations treaties involved with protecting the common heritage of humanity (such provisions cover, for instance, outer space, the moon, deep sea bed, Antarctica[15] and world natural heritage sites.
Five core components are generally regarded as encompassing the common heritage of humanity concept under public international law. First, there can be no private or public appropriation; no one legally owns
common heritage spaces or materials. Second, representatives from all nations must manage such resources on behalf of all (this often necessitating a special agency to coordinate shared management). Third, all nations must actively share with each other the benefits acquired from exploitation of the resources from the commons heritage region, this requiring restraint on the profit-making activities of private corporate entities and linking the concept to that of global public good. Fourth, there can be no weaponry developed using common heritage materials. Fifth, the commons should be preserved for the benefit of future generations.
Probably the closest analogies involve claims that genetic diversity of agricultural crops, plant genetic resources in general, biodiversity or the atmosphere should be treated as not just areas of common concern but subject to common heritage requirements under international law.
Global Solar Fuel (GSF) research and development will also face major issues about whether intellectual monopoly privileges (IMPs) such as patents should cover GSF products as well as processes and functions.
(An) UNESCO Declaration that photosynthesis (in ether its natural or artificial forms) was the common heritage of humanity could be important in wider governance moves to restrict corporate ownership through intellectual property rights or misuse by nation states for strategic or military purposes.
Other questions may involve developing specific principles by which artificial photosynthesis technology can best address within defined time pressures critical problems of global poverty and environmental degradation.
Article 15 of the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICESCR) is directly relevant to a nanotechnology based GAP or GSF project. It sets out the right to enjoy the benefit of scientific progress and its applications (REBSPA). It provides:
1. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone:
(a) To take part in cultural life;
(b) To enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications;
(c) To benefit from the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.
2. The steps to be taken by the States Parties to the present Covenant to achieve the full realization of this right shall include those necessary for the conservation, the development and the diffusion of science and culture.
3. The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to respect the freedom indispensable for scientific research and creative activity.
4. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the benefits to be derived from the encouragement and development of international contacts and co-operation in the scientific and cultural fields. Would this, for example, justify flexibilities to WTO, bilateral and regional trade agreements IMP provisions or a 0.05%
tax on global financial transactions to fund a Global Solar Fuel project?
A major challenge to interpreting this right involves defining its core components. On one approach the core component of the REBSPA aims to protect, fulfil and respect the scientific enterprise insofar as it contributes to achieving human rights obligations. It aims to protect the capacity of the scientific enterprise to bring benefits to everyone through encouraging measures that permit critical analysis, honesty and objectivity amongst scientific researchers and their employers, facilitate government regulatory systems based on scientific evaluation of the risks, benefits and cost effectiveness of new technologies. The right may be viewed as seeking to support mechanisms whereby tradition knowledge may be incorporated into the scientific enterprise according to standards supported by international human rights. For the purposes of this right it is expected that states have an obligation to ensure that science conducted within their boundaries is coherent with international human rights.
Challenges to interpretation of the right (and) Measures for consideration here include how policies of developing nations to retain scientific expertise relate to responsibilities of States Parties to facilitate community access to scientific information, fostering of open scientific debate and appropriate use of science in regulatory processes. Amongst the challenges to be addressed here include the creation of
mechanisms whereby public-funded research can recoup a reasonable percentage of profits ultimately produced by private sector involvement in research and measures to prevent any systematic inhibition, misrepresentation or concealment of scientific data by private or public research organizations.
Relationship of global solar fuels to a global carbon price
One key area of international governance a Global Artificial Photosynthesis (GAP) or Global Solar Fuels (GSF) project is likely to have to interact with is a global carbon price, perhaps introduced by an international convention.
In Australia, from 1 July 2012, the carbon price will be $23 per tonne rising at 2.5 per cent per annum in real terms.[28] From 1 July 2015, transition will occur to a fully flexible market price. This Emissions Trading Scheme ( ETS) has broad coverage- stationary energy sector, industrial processes, non-legacy waste, and fugitive emissions (other than from decommissioned coal mines).
Transport fuels- liquid petroleum fuels, liquid petroleum gas, liquefied natural gas and compressed natural gas are excluded.
(How, and why, one must ask, did those get "excluded" from a "carbon price" imposition?
Between 2015-2018 a price ceiling will be set at $20 above the expected international price; to rise by 5 per cent each year; the floor price being $15, rising annually by 4 per cent. Associated with the new scheme will be a new $10 billion commercially oriented Clean Energy Finance Corporation that will invest in renewable energy, low pollution and energy efficiency technologies, and a new Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) to administer $3.2 billion in Government support for research and development, demonstration and commercialisation of renewable energy. The Renewable Energy Target and the carbon price are expected to drive $20 billion of investment in large-scale renewable energy by 2020.
Other jurisdictions are making progress in this direction. The European Union (EU) Energy and Climate Policy aims to reduce GHG emissions by 20% and increase renewable energy by 20% by 2020. The EU Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan) aims to accelerate development of low carbon technologies and ensure their widespread market take up. The European Industrial Initiative on Electricity Grid- aims to enable 35% EU electricity from dispersed and concentrated renewable sources by 2020 and completely decarbonised electricity production by 2050.
The American Clean Energy and Security Act 2009 (Waxman-Markey Bill) has passed the US federal House of Representatives but is stalled in the Senate. It aims for a 17% reduction in carbon emissions by 2020 and 80% by 2050 and 20% increase in renewables by 2020. It provides extra funding for energy efficiency and renewable energy-US$90 billion by 2025, and basic scientific R&D by US$20 billion. Likewise the Save Our Climate Act (HR 3242) Rep Stark (D-CA) seeks to impose a tax on carbon dioxide at well, mine, port of entry at $10/ton rising by $10/ton per year- proceeds to deficit reduction.
(As above, nefarious schemes concerning CO2 seem to abound.)
The US Dept. of Energy (DOE) and the US Council for Automotive Energies Hydrogen Production Roadmap is one of the few such documents to mention solar fuels. It states that current water electrolysis units have relatively low production rates (100kg/day) and need to be scaled up to 50,000 kg/day.
One problem with a global carbon price is that if the carbon price is not high enough it will not incentivize GAP effectively. Substantial linking with overseas carbon markets means carbon price may be set overseas, threatening national (security).
6. Conclusion: This paper has explored some of the international legal governance structures that may need to be developed or circumvented for enhanced global collaborations on solar fuels to occur. Particularly important in the former context is emerging international human right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications. In the latter context some problems that could arise from trade and investment law have been explored."
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Note further, in the above, the shadow of yet another special interest looming over the issue of - - using environmental energy to drive the process - - converting Carbon Dioxide into hydrocarbon fuels:
It might forestall the government's ability to "impose a tax on carbon dioxide ... proceeds to deficit reduction".
Strange, isn't it, that we can now seriously consider establishing an industry that would, by consuming Carbon Dioxide and synthesizing fuels, in processes driven by environmental energy, free us from economic enslavement to OPEC, put more of our people to work, and clean up our environment, but, some in our government might actually prefer that we not start doing that because it would threaten tax income they had been counting on?
That, in addition to certain nation states and "supranational" corporations who would prefer that we either not do it or do it in such a way that they can monopolize it's operation and it's profits.
In a way, although we won't include more reference links, it's like the issue of converting abundant Coal into substitute petroleum, which we've known how to do since WWII, and which they've been doing on a large, industrial and profitable scale in South Africa for the past half a century, but about which we, even those of us in US Coal Country, are seldom told by our commercial press.
As with the implications for converting Carbon Dioxide into hydrocarbons, as in the subject of our dispatch herein, "Exploring International Legal Governance of Global Solar Fuels", maybe we need to look a little deeper, and begin, as one, to ask:
"Who is it that actually profits by continued public silence concerning the fact, that, we can synthesize any hydrocarbon fuel we might want or need from either or both Coal and Carbon Dioxide?".
That, we would think, is a question that Coal Miners, Environmentalists, and genuine US patriots of any stripe, could come together as one and demand an answer to.
It's far past time we did.