Can We Afford Carbon Capture?

Posted on February 27, 2009 by


Ed Milliband announced this week that the Government wants to fund at least two Carbon Capture Storage projects but Centrica has warned that the technology will take at least 15 years to develop before it can be used widely. Robert McKie in the Observer reports that “Current estimates suggest it will cost at least £50 to bury a tonne of carbon dioxide”. A 800 megawatt power station produces 5 million tonnes a year. Meanwhile the cost of a tonne of CO2 has collapsed in the carbon trading markets.
Can we afford it? It has been calculated that here in the UK we have put more CO2 in the atmosphere per head of population than any other country. If we want to continue using coal we must find a cleaner way.

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3 Responses to Can We Afford Carbon Capture?

  1. the Grit says:
    February 27, 2009 at 9:33 pm

    Hi k,

    Of course not. The cost, however, is not the real question. Really, if we, at least in the US, can’t find a suitable method for long term storage of radioactive waste, then the feasibility of long term storage of massive quantities of a gas must be seriously doubted. And if we can’t be assured that these gases will be permanently be stored, then what’s the point?

    the Grit

  2. matt says:
    February 28, 2009 at 2:48 pm

    With Grit on this one. Policy of lunacy surely.

    However if Norway can achieve this then it maybe worth further investigation.

    See update with the StatoilHydro plan for full-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) at Mongstad, a planned combined heat and power plant (CHP) just north of Bergen.

  3. the Grit says:
    March 2, 2009 at 8:40 pm

    Hi matt,

    Crap, I must have done something wrong :)

    the Grit

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