carbon capture and storage
TRANSCRIPT
Carbon capture and storage: white knight or white elephant?
Emissions exceeding IPCC projections
Source: Global Carbon project
Why CCS won’t save the climate and some better solutions
Targets on the table are inadequate
Why CCS won’t save the climate and some better solutions
Source: ClimateActionTracker.org
Finland:69.1 Mt
Pop 5.2 mSweden: 67 Mt
Pop 9m
Greece: 139.2 Mt
Pop 11m
Ireland: 69.9 Mt
Pop: 4m
Hungary: 80.5 Mt
Pop 10m
Our emissions are disproportionately
large
2005 emissions
Victoria: 121 Mt
Pop 5.2m
Why CCS won’t save the climate and some better solutions
Can CCS deliver?
Why CCS won’t save the climate and some better solutions
1. CCS cannot deliver in time or at scale
• UN Development program: “CCS will arrive on the battlefield far too late to help the world avoid dangerous climate change”
• IPCC: Not likely to deliver at scale until second half of 21st century.
• World Coal Institute: only 9 CCS plants operating globally in 2020
• Even if it works will only capture a fraction of emissions from electricity generation. In Australia at best leads to 9% emissions reduction in 2030 and 2.4% reduction in cumulative emissions over period to 2030 (modelling by Hugh Saddler)
Why CCS won’t save the climate and some better solutions
2. CCS wastes energy and water
Plants with carbon capture will use 10-40% more energy than those without.
• This means more coal mining, transportation and burning
Why CCS won’t save the climate and some better solutions
Why CCS won’t save the climate and some better solutions
3. CCS wastes energy and water
• Because of energy penalty, CCS uses 1/3 more water than conventional coal-fired power
Melbourne’s annual water use:
400 GL
Water use of 5 power stations in Latrobe Valley: 100 GL
Why CCS won’t save the climate and some better solutions
4. CCS creates a long-term, potentially dangerous liability
• Longest running storage project at Sleipner is 14 years old
• Will it stay there forever? Potential for slow or sudden leakage? Failure of wells?
Question: in the event of an accident who wears the legal liability?
.
Why CCS won’t save the climate and some better solutions
Answer:
We do!Why CCS won’t save the climate and some better solutions
5. CCS is expensive and undermines funding for sustainable solutions
• IPCC estimate of $15-$75 per tonne
• More expensive than energy efficiency, gas, and most renewable energy technologies
• Yet its dominating government climate change expenditure
“The 2009-10 Budget further strengthens Australia’s domestic and international climate change response…
The Rudd Government will invest:-$2.4 billion in low emissions coal technologies, including new funding of $2 billion in industrial-scale
CCS projects under the Carbon Capture and Storage Flagships program;
-$1.6 billion in solar technologies, including new funding of $1.365 billion in a Solar Flagships program – helping position Australia as a world leader in this vital energy technology for the future”
Excerpt from Federal Budget 09-10 press release
Why CCS won’t save the climate and some better solutions
Why CCS won’t save the climate and some better solutions
6. CCS trial projects over-promise and under-deliver
• In 2007 11 CCS projects were scrapped globally.
• In Australia ZeroGen delayed and Shell/BP project scrapped
• Victorian trials are ridiculously small and expensive
Why CCS won’t save the climate and some better solutions
7. CCS is unnecessary: halving Victoria’s emissions by 2020
Turning it Around: climate solutions for Victoria, The Nous Group
Reflections on 50% cuts scenario
•Minimises total emissions starting immediately
•Leadership scenario - need leaders to break impasses
•Many measures need state leadership
•Will give Victoria first-mover advantage in some sectors
•No regrets approach would see us adopting measures with speedy payback times
Why CCS won’t save the climate and some better solutions
Conclusions on CCS
• CCS about ‘keeping the dream alive’
• Will deliver too little, too late at too great a cost.
• The public is footing the bill and the liability
• We can do better.
Why CCS won’t save the climate and some better solutions
Sweden: 67 MtPop 9m
4 Victorian power stations: 58 Mt per
year
Why CCS won’t save the climate and some better solutions
Why CCS won’t save the climate and some better solutions
Thank you
www.environmentvictoria.org.au