| Carbon Capture Storage - Dubious Results | 16 June 08 |
 Governments world-wide are looking towards carbon capture and storage (CCS) as reason to build hundreds of coal power plants - the largest single source of carbon dioxide emissions, in the next decade. According to a recent report from Greenpeace International, CCS is a largely unproven method of injecting CO2 produced by power plants deep underground and is not expected to be technically feasible before 2030. The International Energy Agency (EIA) estimates that by 2050, at least 6000 storage projects need to be in operation. Presently, only three such storage projects exist worldwide. The Greenpeace report False Hope - Why carbon capture and storage won't work to save the climate identifies significant risks to storing CO2 underground and possible leakage rates as low as 1 percent canceling out any climate benefit. Environmentalists fear the lure of CCS will divert investment away from the real solutions to dangerous global climate change - renewable energies and energy efficiency technologies. "Carbon capture and storage is a scam. It is the ultimate coal industry pipe dream," said the report's author, Emily Rochon, climate and energy campaigner at Greenpeace International. The report promotes investment in clean energies - wind, wave, and solar powers which are capable of providing six times more energy than the world currently consumes. View Greenpeace report, False Hope - Why carbon capture and storage won't work to save the climate (PDF) View Greenpeace Statement on Carbon Capture and Storage (PDF) View May 23, 2008 Planet Ark article View June 3, 2008 E-Wire article View May 30, 2008 New York Times article View May 5, 2008 Greenpeace press release Sources: GreenPeace, Planet Ark, E-wire, New York Times |
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