The Case for Carbon Capture and Storage

[Gruffalo]

Should Carbon Capture and Storage be something which Ireland is looking at?

It is something which many of the worlds leading countries are looking at:

The Australian government has invested more than $4 billion to support clean energy technologies, almost half of that for CCS. There are also test projects throughout Europe and Asia — in Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom, China, Japan and elsewhere.

In Canada, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government has earmarked $1 billion for clean energy technology, much of it for CCS. The goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent from 2006 levels by 2020.

The justfication for this approach seems to be that given the rapid development of countries such as China, and their heavy use of fossil fuels, much of the world switching to renewables will not have the desired effect:

Proponents say it has to be done because even if developed nations immediately moved en masse to renewables such as solar, wind, and biomass, it wouldn't make a whit of difference because emerging leaders such as China and India continue to stoke their burgeoning economic engines with coal.

However there are also those who think that this is ridiculous as it leaves us focusing on fossil fuels when there are better, cleaner options out there:

But opponents such as Greenpeace are gnashing their teeth.

Why, they beseech, of all the technologies in all the labs in all the world, do the best and brightest seize not on the new dawn of solar and wind, but on a technology that serves only to prop up Old King Coal's dirty old soul?

"We need to pick our future. Do we want a green energy future or do we want a black energy future?" asks Emily Rochon of Greenpeace in an interview from Brussels, Belgium, where she tirelessly prowls hallways and offices to lobby European Union officials to move away from coal.

"CCS doesn't get us there. It keeps fossil-intensive energy infrastructure in place and at the top of the energy agenda. We've never given renewable energy the chance it deserves, so it hasn't taken off."

Carbon capture no 'silver bullet' for climate change

Personally, I dont think this is the route for Ireland to go down but there are some countries who are going to have to use it as a medium term answer to their problems.

[Factorem]

Madness.

This "global warming" lark is nothing more than a scam to make people feel guilty and extract more tax money out of them.

[ibis]

Should Carbon Capture and Storage be something which Ireland is looking at?

It is something which many of the worlds leading countries are looking at:


The justfication for this approach seems to be that given the rapid development of countries such as China, and their heavy use of fossil fuels, much of the world switching to renewables will not have the desired effect:



However there are also those who think that this is ridiculous as it leaves us focusing on fossil fuels when there are better, cleaner options out there:


Carbon capture no 'silver bullet' for climate change

Personally, I dont think this is the route for Ireland to go down but there are some countries who are going to have to use it as a medium term answer to their problems.

Whatever helps, frankly.

[teach]

Should Carbon Capture and Storage be something which Ireland is looking at?

It is something which many of the worlds leading countries are looking at:


The justfication for this approach seems to be that given the rapid development of countries such as China, and their heavy use of fossil fuels, much of the world switching to renewables will not have the desired effect:



However there are also those who think that this is ridiculous as it leaves us focusing on fossil fuels when there are better, cleaner options out there:


Carbon capture no 'silver bullet' for climate change

Personally, I dont think this is the route for Ireland to go down but there are some countries who are going to have to use it as a medium term answer to their problems.

Doesn't clean coal technology production operate on the basis of carbon capture?

[ibis]

Doesn't clean coal technology production operate on the basis of carbon capture?

Not as such - "clean coal" is both a catch-all term for anything that reduces the impact of coal burning, and also a misnomer, since the result is anything but clean.

[teach]

Whilst reading up on the Government’s set proposals, and initiatives for dealing with Ireland’s energy future needs, I cannot but see a lack of clarity and foresight on their part. For instance, why have many of the proposals involved in Government decision making for our energy future, involved such areas as wind and wave energy? This is clearly not feasible, unless it is for small pockets of habitation along the western seaboard. However for our more populated areas we will need to make hard headed investments in energy forms such as clean coal technology and the harvesting of algae for oil. This is what we need to be doing if we are to put a bit of logic into our future planning for energy. Whilst having to build an industrial infrastructure for producing algae oil, we will also have to look into carbon capture. However can anybody in the government see this logic?

[fiannafailure]

Whilst reading up on the Government’s set proposals, and initiatives for dealing with Ireland’s energy future needs, I cannot but see a lack of clarity and foresight on their part. For instance, why have many of the proposals involved in Government decision making for our energy future, involved such areas as wind and wave energy? This is clearly not feasible, unless it is for small pockets of habitation along the western seaboard. However for our more populated areas we will need to make hard headed investments in energy forms such as clean coal technology and the harvesting of algae for oil. This is what we need to be doing if we are to put a bit of logic into our future planning for energy. Whilst having to build an industrial infrastructure for producing algae oil, we will also have to look into carbon capture. However can anybody in the government see this logic?

Wind and wave resources are huge in this country and you mention algae farming for oil production this is a tech that does both carbon capture and energy production, algae are 6 times as good as trees at capturing carbon

[The OD]

Bury some trees, lots of carbon tied up in them.

Sounds ridiculous, but being taken very seriously.

[fiannafailure]

Bury some trees, lots of carbon tied up in them.

Sounds ridiculous, but being taken very seriously.

And is obviously taken more seriously by the chattering classes than people who live in the real world, although it is laying the foundation for Shell to become a giant again in about half a million years, buy shares now

[Gimpanzee]

My best attempt at crystal ball gazing makes me think carbon capture by means of massive carbon scrubbers will be the big piece in the solution. Not scrubbers on coal plants, but scrubbers placed almost like wind farms in isolated places around the world will be the ultimate solution. The indications are that it will be very expensive, but I think that we will reach a point where we are forced into doing so.

I don't think humans are equipped for restraint in terms of development - we've been rewarded for our ability to bend our environment to our will for tens if not hundreds of thousands of years, you can't just flick a switch and expect us to suddenly bend our will for our environment. Its not in our nature. The only way out is to develop our way out of our own mess.