The Importance of Capture Carbon and Storage

Carbon Capture and Storage is essential in general to a low carbon future and specifically to low carbon electricity generation. Our world is very dependent on fossil fuels, which have historically been cheap and great for energy production. The problem now is that CO2 emissions from the fuels are causing extreme effects for the climate. These CO2 emissions need to be lowered tremendously  in the near future in order to avoid large changes in the climate. Renewable energy sources are a great way to reduce CO2 emissions. There are many sources that are economically viable now or will be soon such as wind, hydro and solar. The problem with these are the upfront costs and the large changes in our energy infrastructure that are going to need to take place to widely implement these and meet growing demand for energy.

Carbon capture and storage is a great transition between a renewable energy source future and our current infrastructure based in fossil fuels. CCS has the potential to lower all concentrated CO2 emissions including large industrial processes and electrical generation plants by 90%. The CO2 that is captured can also be used for EOR or ECBM to help alleviate some of the costs of the system. Large implementation of CCS is presenting itself as vital to continue our quality of life with our energy demands while meeting policy requirements on CO2 emissions.

Resources:

Global CCS Institute. “Global Status of CCS 2011.”Global Carbon Capture and Storage  Institute. Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute, 4 Oct. 2011. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.

Written by: Michael Duncan

Edited by: Eric Gallant