The other side of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)

Experts with immense knowledge of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions express their views on how to reduce the concentration of CO2 in our atmosphere, and suggest what they believe are more efficient methods than CCS.

As previously mentioned in the blog The Positives of Carbon Capture and Storage (CSS), technology is one of the methods utilized to reduce carbon dioxide. While it may prove efficient, Mr. Michael Madsen, an environmental engineer in the Clean Air Branch of Hawai’i Department of Health, believes otherwise.

Michael Madsen has been working within this branch for almost a decade witnessing the shift in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions as it has become a more prominent issue in politics and economics. As I tapped into the topic of CCS in Hawaii, Madsen mentioned that out of the 20 facilities only one is considering implementation of CCS on fossil fuels due to beginning stage reasons. Since this relatively new technology is not cost efficient and the amount of carbon dioxide trapped due to this technology is not useful for large power plant. However, the technology of CCS is currently being applied in Phycal, a developmental facility that operates CO2 to algae biofuel near Central Oahu, Hawaii. The project within the Hawaii Electric Company is attempting to introduce this technology into the market by qualifying the biocrude for boiler use and supplying Tesoro (one of the largest independent refiners and marketers of petroleum product) with a new substance to evaluate as a fuel product.

It is important to note that carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies can capture up to 90 percent of carbon dioxide emissions from an industrial facility and store it in underground geologic formations. Yet, it is still a relatively expensive technology that continues to be in the experimental phase for power generation and other industrial processes.

In addition, Mr. James Hansen, also former Director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies involved in climate science, awareness and solutions, agreed that while this technology may be a tool for future development, it still needs time to mature and improve. He made it a point to state that Carbon Capture and Storage is not the critical step towards reducing the amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere. He strongly believes that while the intent is to limit the climate change caused by increasing CO2, the problem is discovering cheap and convenient energy sources to become less dependent on fossil fuels.

What we must do to rapidly phase down CO2 emissions is collect a rising carbon fee from fossil fuel companies and distribute the money equally to all legal residents. This makes the price of fossil fuels more honest, including their costs to society, which makes the economy more efficient, increasing GNP [Gross national product-broad measure of a nation’s total economic activity]. What prevents us is public ignorance of the climate situation and especially of the fact that a carbon fee and dividend would benefit most people, spur the economy, creating millions of jobs.

Hansen’s approach is related more to changing the economy since people’s first spark to change is when money comes out of their individual pockets. “There is no significant CCS, so it is not of significant benefit. Some people think that one day it will be important, but it is likely to be expensive. Thus, it is dangerous to assume that it will rescue us in the future. On the other hand, we can extract a substantial amount of carbon from the air by means of improved agricultural and forestry practices, but there are practical limits on how much we can extract so we need to stop emitting as soon as possible.”

With this argument, one may note that there are currently 12 active commercial-scale carbon capture and storage projects at industrial facilities around the world, with the United States as a leader in eight projects within its territory, in hopes that CCS may reduce carbon dioxide by 14% globally by 2050 and limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, approximately 50 additional projects are in various developmental stages around the world according to the Global CCS Institute; within this establishment, CCS is known to contribute 1/6th of the total CO2 emission reductions.

Nevertheless, as expressed by experts in the field, this technology is relatively new with the world’s first commercial-scale of CCS power plant, SaskPower’s Boundary Dam Power Station in Canada, becoming operational in October 2014. The end goal is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, so while the carbon capture and storage technology may contribute towards this aspiration; its primary contact should be directly bridged to bridged to monetary consequences.