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Greenbang is wondering what’s carbon capture’s secret. Not the technological secret, more the secret of how it’s sucking in money like a back hole sucks in the Starship Enterprise and/or Doctor Who.

The last few times that Greenbang has written the words ‘carbon’ and ‘capture’ and ‘storage’ she seems to have been groping for the $ key straight after. Today, my friends, is no exception – Greenbang will be writing the words ‘carbon’ and ‘capture’ and then ‘has pulled in $1.3 billion in funding.

Today’s donor is the US Department of Energy, who’s ponying up around $0.3 billion next year and $1billion the following year for research into systems that can clean up dirty, dirty coal.

Anyone who wants to get their slice of money pie (all carbon capture projects will need to be cost shared) will have to get their applications in by 8 October.

More from the DoE:

By funding multiple projects DOE expects at least to double the amount of CO2 sequestered compared to the amount under the concept announced in 2003. When these plants are operational, they will be the cleanest coal-fired power plants in the world – each capturing and storing an expected 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year.

Subject to compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act, the FOA envisions commercial operation of IGCC (Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle) or other clean coal power plants equipped with CCS technology to begin as soon as the plants are commissioned by the end of 2015. The restructured FutureGen approach will focus on the challenges associated with avoiding and reducing carbon emissions through sequestration. Technical, economic, and operational results from multiple projects will inform and guide the promulgation of regulations related to wide-scale carbon sequestration activities and at the same time will help establish technologies and protocols for CO2 monitoring, mitigation and verification.

• Carbon injection gets $126 million funding injection
• DoE gets smart with $50m grid handouts
• Coal-fired carbon capture experiment begins
• DoE chases zero energy buildings, $140m savings
• DoE opens up $90m cash reservoir for geothermal
• DoE spends $30m for 40 mile hybrids
• GE, Siemens, Gamesa sign DoE wind deal
• $131 million for fuel cell inventors
• Carbon capture: British Columbia goes deep underground
• Carbon capture as much use a chocolate teapot: Greenpeace