Figure 1 Dr. Satoshi Konishi from Kyoto University during his ERIA Special Lecture Presentation
On Tuesday, May 15, 2018, the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) held a special lecture on “Renewable Energy in ASEAN”. The lecture was held in ERIA’s office (Sentral Senayan II, Jakarta) with Dr. Satoshi Konishi from Kyoto University as the speaker. Dr. Satoshi Konishi is a researcher from the Institute of Advanced Energy, Graduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies in Human Survivability, Kyoto University. He gave a presentation on “Sustainable energy conversion and resource recycle: A challenge of biomass conversion by clean energy”. The lecture was attended by people from both the industrial as well as academician from universities.
In his presentation, he highlighted the importance of carbon reduction. While renewable energy will be able to reduce carbon emission, we still have to think of a way to isolate the already emitted carbon in the atmosphere. Dr. Satoshi also mentioned that by 2040, Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) resources would be more critical than fossil fuel. This argument is supported by the fact that by 2040 the carbon budget of the Paris Agreement is expected to run out.
With the importance of a carbon sink, it is arguable that the price of carbon will be higher than electricity prices produced by the biomass power plant in the near future. Dr. Satoshi Konishi presented a concept where biomass reactors can be used to capture carbon emission rather than producing electricity. With the assumption of the higher carbon price, the concept will be economically viable in the near future. He also mentioned that smoke from biomass kills 1.3 million people; thus, capturing the carbon emitted from the biomass power plant will not only beneficial in the economic point of view but also health-wise.
Dr. Satoshi Konishi closed his presentation by stating that biomass processing combined with new energy is a possible option for fuel production, local electricity, and carbon sequestration. The isolated carbon can then be sold as an emission credit which is expected to have a more economic value in the future.
