Carbon Capture Under Fire

Carbon capture under fire
By GABRIEL ZARATE, SRJ Reporter 16.JUL.08

The Alberta government has allotted $2 billion to pursue carbon capture and storage (CCS) at a time when some environmentalists are questioning the worth of the process.
A relatively new technology, carbon storage is supposed to keep millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide gas from being released into the atmosphere by industries such as oilsands extraction or coal-fired power generation.

Greenpeace Press Premiers to Sign Kyotoplus

Greenpeace to press premiers to sign on to KYOTOplus

    QUEBEC CITY, July 16 /CNW Telbec/ - Greenpeace will press Canada's
premiers to sign on to the KYOTOplus targets for greenhouse gas reductions
during the Council of the Federation meeting in Quebec City.
    To emphasize the need for real action on climate change to the premiers,
Greenpeace activists will have a banner at the Council meeting highlighting
the KYOTOplus campaign outside the Chateau Frontenac at 9 a.m. Thursday
morning.
    "The federal government has failed to address climate change," said
Arthur Sandborn, Greenpeace climate campaigner. "That's why we are in Quebec
City pushing our KYOTOplus campaign with the premiers."    .
  

Carbon Capture: the false solution

Carbon Capture and Storage A False Solution

Too late to be of use, much too expensive, ineffective, and unsafe Dr. Mae-Wan Ho

A fully referenced version of this article is posted on ISIS members’ website. Details here

An electronic version of this report, or any other ISIS report, with full references, can be sent to you via e-mail for a donation of £3.50. Please e-mail the title of the report to: report@i-sis.org.uk

Carbon capture and storage mega-projects collapse

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is intended to reduce the impact of burning fossil fuels by capturing CO₂ from concentrated sources such as power stations and storing it underground (see Box). CCS has wide support among governments as world oil supply is failing to meet demand while many countries still have large coal reserves.

Coal-fired power plants account for half of America’s electricity, and coal produces more carbon dioxide than any other commonly used fuel [1]. The coal-mining industry has been promoting CCS as “clean coal”, and even some environmental groups see it as a way of bridging the energy gap until renewable energies can be more widely deployed.

CCS: no solution when you pump out more carbon

A new home for C02 beneath your feet

A Canadian company plans to build a pipeline underground that can pump millions of tons of C02 a year, which would capture and store the carbon dioxide emissions. Sam Eaton reports why it may or may not work.

$2 Billion Dollar Greenwash

The cost of green
Calgary Herald
Published: Thursday, July 10, 2008

Sometimes, one just does what one must. Such is the case with the provincial plan to put $2 billion of an expected surplus wholly attributable to resource royalties into pumping the energy industry’s carbon dioxide exhaust back into the ground.

Recognize it for what it is, a $2-billion public relations campaign to arm provincial cabinet ministers against critics of Alberta’s supposedly dirty oil. “No, we’re not pumping CO2 into the air: In Alberta, we bury it. Next question?”

It has to be viewed that way, because otherwise it’s a lot of money for not much.

Environment Canada’s National Inventory Report on Canadian greenhouse gas sources gives the perspective.

Nationally, Canada produced 721 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent in 2006. Alberta was responsible for 234 million tonnes.

When fully implemented in 2015, the government’s $2-billion plan will capture and sequester five million tonnes of it annually.

That’s two per cent. Or it’s about 3.4 per cent of the 146 million tonnes of CO2 produced by the province’s electrical generators and its energy industry — perhaps the more reasonable comparison, as vehicle and residential emissions are scarcely amenable to capture.