Northern Germany is about to create history with the world’s first coal fired plant, carbon capture and storage (CCS), that is able to capture and store its own CO2 emissions. The pilot project, which will be introduced next week, includes taking the CO2 that is released and squeezing it to one 500th of its original volume, putting it into a cylinder, and finally pushing it 1,000m below the earth’s surface into porous rock.
It has taken 2 years and 70m euros to get the pilot running, but many believe it is the best way to deal with CO2 emissions responsible for climate change. However, there is concern over how the high costs of building and maintaining such plants will be paid. Another concern is that this new technology will only justify the construction of other power plants. Some also suggest that the construction of such plants will take money away from projects that want to completely solve the problems of CO2 emissions with renewable energies and energy efficiency. This is evidenced by the fact that the CCS projects may cost as much as or more than wind power. Nonetheless, the EU is expecting to see 10-12 full-scale CCS plants within the next few years, and there is expectation for other rich countries to do the same to reduce CO2 emissions to the level deemed acceptable by scientists.
I think that CCS will be an effective way to reduce CO2 emissions to a certain extent but I don’t think we should completely rely on them either. I think that it would be better if we concentrated more of our efforts on solving the problem once and for all by using renewable energy. Maybe it’s just me but I don’t like the idea of having to put cylinders of CO2 into the earth. It is like shoving all the mess in your room under your bed to make your room look clean instead of dealing with it. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7584151.stm
2 comments:
I agree with you in that these projects are definitely a step worth taking to help the world control greenhouse gasses, but it should'nt be viewed as a solution. Still, research done on these projects and their future success or failure will be viewed as valuable to the global community.
This carbon capture technology should have been developed years ago, but unfortunately the US decided not to recognized global climate change as a real issue back in 2000. This technology is a great step for developed and developing nations to reduce carbon emissions as an interim before we must move away from fossil fuels. The US and China would benefit the most from this technology because of the large quantities of coal burning plants in both countries.
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