Should the Australian Government Promote Carbon Capture and Storage

952 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The need for renewable sources of energy in australia

Should the Australian Government Promote Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)?

Introduction
CCS is a technology for storing carbon emissions underground to slow global warming. It is under development, still several years from commercial deployment, and a key question for policy makers and power companies is whether or not it is a cost effective option compared to the other low carbon alternatives. The question is “should the Australian Government be subsidizing and promoting carbon capture and storage?”

Advantages and Challenges of CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage)
How does it Work?

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is the procedure of sequestering carbon emissions from large emitters, such as power plants, moving it to a storage location, and injecting it where it will not enter the atmosphere, normally in deep underground rocks. The aim is to prevent the release of large quantities of CO2 into the atmosphere (from fossil fuel use in power generation and other industries). It is a potential means of mitigating the contribution of fossil fuel emissions to global warming and ocean acidification. Carbon dioxide has been placed into deep rocks for many years for industrial purposes, including superior oil return. Long term storage of the gas is a relatively recent concept (Csiro 2014).
Storage of the CO2 has been trialed in subterranean geological structures. Geological formations are currently considered the most promising sequestration sites. Australia has large areas suitable for CCS and the government has opened them up for that purpose. Scientists (Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute. 2014) are now generally confident that once carbon dioxide has been deposited it will not escape into the earth’s atmosphere.
C...

... middle of paper ...

...4].

CSIRO .Carbon Capture and Storage 2014. Available from< http://www.csiro.au/Outcomes/Energy/Energy-from-coal/Carbon-Capture-Storage.aspx.> [Accessed 10 April 2014].
Lead Author: Emily Rochon Editor: Jo Kuper Contributing Authors: Dr Erika Bjureby, Dr Paul Johnston, Robin Oakley, Dr David Santillo, Nina Schulz, and Dr Gabriela von Goerne. 2013. false-hope-executive-summary. Available from: [01 April 2013].
IEA - Carbon capture and storage (CCS). 2014. IEA - Carbon capture and storage (CCS). Available from [11 April 2014].
Bloomberg BNA, 2012 Carbon Capture, Storage Too Expensive, Commercial Outlook Dim, CBO Says, ., America, accessed 12 April 2014, < http://www.bna.com/carbon-capture-storage-n12884910427/>.

Show More
Related

  • Examples Of Hope In Shawshank Redemption

    615 Words  | 2 Pages

    What is the director ultimately saying about the ways in which hope affects the individual?

    Read More

  • Pascal's Wager and Global Warming

    1198 Words  | 3 Pages

    Since measurements began in 1958 -- and it can be assumed to have been the case since the industrial revolution -- emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere has risen steadily as a result of the burning of fossil fuels (Quay, pp 2344). Although there is much argument over the implications of increasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, there are several points that almost all scientists would agree on: firstly, carbon dioxide acts to absorb radiated heat; if present in our atmosphere will do just that to some extent. Second, the concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere is rising. Third, the temperature of the planet is rising - although the amount of this increase and the causes of this rise are subject to disagreement (Philander, pp 193).

    Read More

  • Carbon Tax vs. Cap and Trade

    1287 Words  | 3 Pages

    6. Scheueneman, Tom. "A Carbon Tax is More Viable than Cap and Trade." RSS. 26 July 2012. The Energy Collective. 11 Mar. 2014 .

    Read More

  • Health Promotion Plan

    2527 Words  | 6 Pages

    This author met with a patient named JB to assess her current health status as well as her needs to ensure her health and well being or as she put it to “make sure she is her in the future for her children”. JB was an engaging and honest patient that had the eagerness and desire to improve her curren...

    Read More

  • Acidification and the Ocean’s Changing Climate

    638 Words  | 2 Pages

    The ocean has always absorbed CO2 from the air. An article presented in Nature August 2012 enlightens that about half of all CO2 generated by human is absorbed by the ocean. This chemical reaction is occurring naturally and the rate at which carbon is being absorbed, the concentration of carbonic acid is increasing. This has overwhelming concerns, particularly for shelled creatures. Animals such as corals, crabs, and calms need calcium carbonate to build their shells. Calcium Carbonate is dissolved by carbonic acid and consequently these animals are incapable of maintaining casings of calcium. Bio geosciences in 2010, suggested that carbon confiscation by oceans and land is lessening, which has the potential to further worsen the impact of carbon emissions.

    Read More

  • A Proposal to Prevent Global Warming

    826 Words  | 2 Pages

    We humans cannot help but feel a twinge of regret when we contemplate how we brought forth the plague of global warming by our own hands in the passing years. Aside from rising sea levels as deluging coastal cities and depleting ozone layers as increasing cancer rates, we inevitably come face to face with one simple realization: it’s getting too hot in here. Moreover, we have been devastated by various extremes of nature, with spring frost storms and summer hurricanes arriving with increasing frequency. However, numerous though the causes of global warming may be, the general consensus is that carbon dioxide, which results from the burning of fuels such as coal, is the main culprit; this gas has now formed a high concentration blockade in the atmosphere, preventing heat from escaping and thus increasing the temperatures of our planet. Therefore, after assessing all facts of the problem, I humbly propose that we collect the CO2¬, compress it, and then place it into soda cans. Then, we shall store the soda cans underground, whence the CO2 originally came.

    Read More

  • A Northern Light Symbolism

    632 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hope has the incredible ability to make or break someone. People are always told to make large goals in school and employment, and try to reach those ambitions no matter how far they are. Hope is the motivation behind accomplishing dreams, but it also has the ability to break people who have hoped for something so desperately, yet never came to fruition. Only determination and personal situations can persuade hope to fly or fall. A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly highlights this ambiguous hope we depend on through the use of symbolism, characterization, and inner conflict.

    Read More

  • Carbon Dioxide Environmental Effects

    1361 Words  | 3 Pages

    Carbon dioxide or CO2 is known to be one of a number of gases that are astonishingly transparent to the visible light that falls on the Earth from the Sun, but it absorb the infra-red radiation that emitted by the warm surface of our Earth, to prevents its loss into space. Moreover, CO2 has varied considerably and this affected the Earth’s temperature. Most common source of this CO2 is known as the fossil fuel. Fossil fuels are primarily coal, hydrocarbons, natural gas, or fuel oil that formed from the remains of the dead plants and also animals. The burning fossil fuel that has been created by humans is the largest source of emissions of the carbon dioxide.

    Read More

  • Climate Change In Australia

    1013 Words  | 3 Pages

    Climate change has the potential to devastate millions in Australia. Rising temperatures will impact the landscape of Australia by decreasing Australia's forests. Australia is going to have to spend billions of dollars to make sure their safety from climate change. The people in Australia will need to be strong and flexible to make it through this tough time they're going through, and Australia will have to find a way to fix this problem before it's too late. Climate change is something that will affect the entire world and it's not an issue to take lightly. Australia’s solutions are not simple at all and in order for them to work everyone will have to work together. Climate change in Australia will impact the environment, the economy, and the lives of Australians, an example of a solution is to cut down on carbon emissions.

    Read More

  • Earth’s Cycles and Global Climate Change

    1263 Words  | 3 Pages

    Earth’s carbon levels have followed a natural cycle throughout the past 800,000 years where the carbon dioxide concentration varied from 180 ppm (parts per million) and 280 ppm which resulted in several changes in the environment.. In the grand scheme of Earth, these changes are miniscule and have stayed within the natural cycle. But when looking through the eyes of humans, these changes are drastic causing ice ages, draughts, and rain for years (Goldstein 6). During the last century carbon dioxides levels in the atmosphere have become significantly larger than they ever have in the past 800,000 years. Today these levels are at 390 ppm and show no signs of stopping which will cause temperatures to rise because carbon is a greenhouse gas. When a greenhouse gas, such as carbon dioxide or water vapor are present in the atmosphere, they absorb the heat that the Earth is giving off, creating a thermal blanket over Earth trapping in heat (Houghton 20).

    Read More

  • Climate Change: We Need a Carbon Tax

    1182 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Web. 06 Feb. 2014. Read “Carbon Tax FAQs”. Carbon Tax FAQs -. N.p., n.d. Web.

    Read More

  • Fossil Fuels vs. Renewable Energy

    1889 Words  | 4 Pages

    Mann, Michael E. "False Hope." Scientific American 310.4 (2014): 78-81. Academic Search Complete. Web. 9 May 2014.

    Read More

  • The Securitization of Climate Change in Australia

    2450 Words  | 5 Pages

    There is little doubt left that climate change represents a tangible and time critical environmental threat to Australia. The climate change debate has gone from one of speculative conjecture and dismissal on one extreme of the political continuum, to scare mongering and doomsday prophesying on the other. Though over the past decade the climate change debate has matured significantly and has transformed into a scientifically quantifiable argument with international significance, leaving the conservative un-believers no longer with the option of outright dismissal. Now the role they play is one of questioning, countering and conducting a political auditing of the proposals, policies and action plans put forward by others.

    Read More

  • - Environmental Change: Climate Change

    1393 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the last century, burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil has increased the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide. This happens because the coal or oil burning process combines carbon with oxygen in the air to make CO2. To a lesser extent, the clearing of land for agriculture, industry, and other human activities has increased concentrations

    Read More

  • The Benefits of the Green Movement

    1086 Words  | 3 Pages

    "Recycling | Reduce, Reuse, Recycle | US EPA." US Environmental Protection Agency. Web. 06 Dec. 2011. .

    Read More

More about Should the Australian Government Promote Carbon Capture and Storage

Open Document