Everyone has an opinion on what is the right thing to do in global
warming. Far from just an engineering decision the task of making
technology an effective weapon in the fight against climate change will
take a lot more than working out funding details and letting the
engineers work.
This is an issue not just in the USA but world wide. The recent
Copenhagen meeting has shown us that everyone is resisting making any
necessary reduction in carbon dioxide air emissions. All prefer someone
else to be cut first.
In Canada there are the carbon dioxide producing provinces in the west
such as Alberta and the consumers in the east such as Ontario and
Quebec.
"At the same the governments of Canada and Alberta are providing
significant subsidies for carbon capture and storage, we haven't even
announced an outline for a national approach to reducing greenhouse
gases," says Simon Dyer of the Pembina Institute, an environmental
think tank.
In October, Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited a coal-fired power
plant west of Edmonton to unveil $779 million in federal and provincial
money for a project that could, in about five years, be injecting about
one million tons of CO2 deep underground every year. The previous
week, Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt was in Edmonton to announce
an $865 million federal-provincial subsidy for a $1.35-billion carbon
capture and storage project at the Shell's Scotford oil sands upgrade.
The companies involved in the projects combined will have to put up
about $1 billion of their own money for things to go ahead. The
soonest any of these projects is expected to begin actually storing
carbon is Saskatchewan's relatively small refinery project in 2013.None
of the Alberta projects start shooting gas underground until two years
later. And that's if they pass corporate muster, winning approval from
the various company boards involved in the work as well as any local
resistance from injecting the carbon dioxide into the ground in the
first place.
"We don't have regulations in place to reduce pollution, we're not
investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency," he says. "It
seems like governments are focusing on subsidizing end-of-pipe
pollution control at the expense of all the other opportunities out
there."
Environmentalists in Canada point out that other countries, including
the United States, are spending far more on renewables and
conservation. Without the kind of public support now focused almost
entirely on carbon capture and storage, they warn Canada will miss out
on the energy opportunities of a post-carbon economy.
Yet renewable sources or conservation are not options that will
automatically solve all problems by themselves. Renewable energy
sources have their problems too. Many object to the giant wind mills
for example as unsightly or dangerous to birds. Hydroelectric dams may
cause cause other environmental stress or lose valuable ecosystems to a
new lake.
As can be seen there are a number of options available to reduce and
control air emissions. The problem in Canada as well as the US and
elsewhere is that every option has its supporters often at the
detriment of other options. What is needed is a balanced approach that
both reduces and controls carbon dioxide air emissions.
Most agree that carbon capture and storage can play a role especially
for large industrial emitters that send most of their CO2 out as a
single source such as a smokestack. Coal-fired power plants in Alberta
and Saskatchewan are natural places for such technology, especially
since the geology of two provinces seems to offer plenty of underground
formations to stash the gas. Not every site in the world offers such
advantages. These advantages should not be lost as other options are
pursued.
The lawyers will be discussing the pros and cons for a long time. For
additional information go to:
http://www.mjtimes.sk.ca/Canada---World/Business/2009-12-26/article-305269/
Source: Andy Soos, ENN
Published December 28, 2009 09:31 AM
The Chapters 
Carbon dioxide air emissions is one of the big issues in global warming debate. However, before you start controlling by putting the carbon in the ground, you first have to put lawyers in a room to argue. After a year that saw billions of dollars spent around a variety of carbon capture and storage pilot projects, the focus in 2010 will shift from press conferences and engineering discussion to court cases and conference tables.
