News and Society Blog-Environmental Info: The Challenges and ...

A recent report prepared by the European Environment Agency (EEA) on the subject of carbon capture and storage (CCS) and its possible benefits with regards to reducing air pollution have brought again this somewhat controversial topic into the spotlight. While fossil fuels still remain a major source of energy despite the focus on renewables, the further development of CCS might turn out to be vital in order to facilitate the transition to low carbon economies. One of the ways to do that might be to secure financing for CCS projects through carbon emissions trading schemes.

Carbon capture and storage, sometimes also referred to as carbon capture and sequestration is a technology for trapping carbon dioxide as it is emitted from greenhouse gas sources such as large industrial plants using fossil fuels. After being captured, the CO2 is transported to a storage site where it is injected deep into the ground and thus permanently stored away from the atmosphere.

As the world is still largely reliant on fossil fuels, limiting the rise of global temperature to 2 degrees Celsius could prove to be up to 70 percent more costly without applying CCS technologies, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). In the meantime, the European Commission estimates that the CO2 emissions avoided through CCS by 2030 could account for approximately 15 percent of the total EU emission reductions required.

Despite this substantial emission reduction potential, there are certain barriers to the implementation of CCS projects. First, there are some concerns about the environmental integrity of CCS. Since most CCS technologies are on a more or less experimental stage, there are doubts whether the captured CO2 actually remains safely isolated from the atmosphere. In addition, according to the EEA, CCS technologies require between 15 and 20 percent more energy, which means that plants employing CCS need more fuel.

The other major problem with CCS projects is the cost. The increased cost of power plants equipped with CCS technologies is partly a consequence of the increased energy requirements for capturing and compressing carbon dioxide. The lack of sufficient investment in commercial CCS power plants therefore poses a challenge. According to the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute, it will be difficult for CCS technologies to be applied in the next two decades.

However, the new EEA report, "Air pollution impacts from carbon capture and storage", shows that the potential benefits of CCS might be worth the effort required to overcome those technological and financial difficulties. According to the report findings, in facilities with capture technologies, emissions of some of the main air pollutants, namely sulphur dioxide, particulate matter and nitrogen oxide, will decrease or remain equal per unit of primary energy input, compared to emissions at facilities without CO2 capture.

This report might also be observed in relation to the EU Roadmap for moving to a competitive low carbon economy in 2050. According to the 2050 Roadmap, CCS would need to be employed on a broad scale after 2035, which would require an investment of more than

Source: http://newsandsocietyblog-environmentalinfo.blogspot.com/2012/02/challenges-and-benefits-of-carbon.html

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