It has been twelve years since I became the lone wanderer, far from friends, family and homeland. Each journey seems to take me further West. The first and longest stop was rainy England and the dreaming spires of Oxford, where I received my Masters and Ph.D. in engineering. It took me seven years to leave that field and pursue what had always lingered inside me and matters most: the environment. A Masters in environmental policy later and a “beneficial” (think cod liver oil) stint doing energy markets consulting, left me in search of drier climates and a position where I could really make a difference. The second stop was Washington D.C., where I joined NRDC as a Science Fellow, working on Carbon Capture & Sequestration. From reading technical papers to walking the halls of Congress, my job is to make sure that the policies are in place for this technology to reduce global warming pollution from fossil fuel use. And I do so while making sure that other, truly sustainable and renewable solutions are used first. Third stop? Our San Francisco office, where finally I have been reunited with the ocean that I love so much, after twelve years. Why do I not return home? Because I want to look back one day and know that I tried my best. Right now, tackling global warming is one of our most pressing needs, and U.S. action is the crucial missing piece.
Posted March 5, 2013 by George Peridas in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
[Update Mar8, 2013: more photos here] Some times working for an environmental group comes with added bonuses. A pair of peregrine falcons is nesting just outside our window on Sutter St. in downtown San Francisco, providing an amazing daily spectacle!...continued→
Posted December 4, 2012 by George Peridas in Solving Global Warming
A group of NGOs spanning different continents has just released a new report on Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS). (see press release here) The groups include Clean Air Task Force, the Climate Institute, E3G, NRDC, Pembina, WRI and ZERO. The...continued→
Posted June 22, 2012 by George Peridas in Solving Global Warming
A paper (“Perspective”) published this week by Stanford University professors Mark Zoback and Steven Gorelick in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences questions the viability of Carbon Capture & Sequestration (CCS) as a climate mitigation technology. A comprehensive...continued→
Posted March 27, 2012 by George Peridas in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, Solving Global Warming
Today EPA proposed its Carbon Pollution Standard for New Power Plants. The proposal sets a performance standard that new plants will need to meet. Existing coal-fired generation accounts for the largest chunk of carbon dioxide pollution emitted by stationary sources...continued→
Posted February 28, 2012 by George Peridas in Solving Global Warming
Today, the National Enhanced Oil Recovery Initiative (NEORI) released its recommendations for advancing CO2-enhanced oil recovery. The Initiative comprises stakeholders from many different walks of life: environmental groups, technology vendors, public and investor-owned utilities, labor, ethanol, fuel producers and project...continued→
Posted December 8, 2011 by George Peridas in Solving Global Warming
A new international NGO network has just been announced (press release here), comprising some of the world's leading environmental advocacy organizations, which will focus on the topic of Carbon Capture & Sequestration (CCS). NRDC is part of this group. The...continued→
Posted January 21, 2011 by George Peridas in Solving Global Warming
In order to better understand the statutory and regulatory barriers to the use of carbon capture and storage technology as a strategy in combating climate change, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), California Energy Commission (Energy Commission), and the Air...continued→
Posted January 13, 2011 by George Peridas in Health and the Environment, Solving Global Warming
Recent press reports call attention to complaints by a local family that Canadian government agencies and the operator of the Weyburn carbon dioxide storage project in Saskatchewan, Canada have not responded satisfactorily to requests for investigation of apparent chemical contamination...continued→
Posted November 22, 2010 by George Peridas in Health and the Environment, Solving Global Warming
If geologic formations are to be used to keep carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the atmosphere, it is essential that we know what the potential leakage pathways are, and establish effective rules to ensure that injected CO2 stays permanently trapped....continued→
Posted August 13, 2010 by George Peridas in Solving Global Warming
On February 3, 2010, President Obama established an Interagency Task Force on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) with the goal of developing a comprehensive and coordinated Federal strategy to speed the commercial development and deployment of carbon capture and storage...continued→
Posted July 16, 2010 by George Peridas in Solving Global Warming
Senators Rockefeller (D, WV) and Voinovich (R, OH) released their Carbon Capture and Storage Deployment Act this week. This is an ambitious proposal that would help the technology to be deployed at a wide scale. A good few of the...continued→
Posted May 21, 2010 by George Peridas in Solving Global Warming
What is it about “do-it-all thinkers” trying their hand at bashing carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) lately? After the Economides couple tried to convince the world in the face of unanimous scientific and stakeholder outcry that their musings had settled...continued→
Posted April 29, 2010 by George Peridas in Health and the Environment, Solving Global Warming
Michael Economides and Christine Ehlig-Economides recently published a paper, which according to them contained a revelation. The world's scientists had got geological storage of carbon dioxide (GS) all wrong. The paper asserts that its implications "are profound" and concludes that GS...continued→
Posted February 4, 2010 by George Peridas in Solving Global Warming
Yesterday, President Obama issued a memorandum directing several of his department and agency chairs to come together and works towards a Comprehensive Federal Strategy on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). Under the memorandum, an Interagency Task Force is established, which...continued→
Posted October 20, 2009 by George Peridas in Greening China, Solving Global Warming
It's the Year of the Ox. And the Ox likes low-hanging fruit. On Friday last week NRDC released the Executive Summary of a report that examines the potential for near-term Carbon Capture & Sequestration opportunities in China. The full report...continued→
Switchboard is the staff blog of the Natural Resources Defense Council, the nation’s most effective environmental group. For more about our work, including in-depth policy documents, action alerts and ways you can contribute, visit NRDC.org.
