Carbon capture and storage (CCS)/sequestration Miles Brown and Alex Bowles

What is it? Mitigates the contribution of fossil fuels into the atmosphere. Large sources are targeted, e.g coal power stations. Instead CO2 is captured and stored underground so it can’t enter the atmosphere.

Example A power plant called Schwarze Pumpe in East Germany opened in 2008 and demonstrated to sceptics that the process does work. They reduced their CO2 emissions by 80/90% compared to a plant without a CCS system. At the plant, CO2 is liquefied and pumped into the ground where it has no effect on the environment.

Problems Environmentalists say that the money invested in CCS facilities could have more of an impact if that money was invested in renewable energy sources instead. The current systems use up to 40% of the energy produced by the power station. Cost of the energy to the consumer increases by up to 90%. Potential for leakage from the injection pipe.

Advantages America has the capacity to store all their CO2 produced for 900 years. Proved to work such as in East Germany.