CCS in Action or Inaction – April 2015 Cranfield Biannual

This blog was written by Akeem K Olaleye, a UKCCSRC ECR from the University of Hull, who received funding from the ECR Meeting Fund to attend the UKCCSRC Spring 2015 Biannual in Cranfield, 21-22 April.  

The final session of The UKCCSRC Spring 2015 Biannual meeting featured two talks from the main theme “CCS in Action or Inaction?’ The first talk titled “DIY CCS” was given by Dr Graeme Sweeney (Chairman, of the Advisory Council of the European Technology Platform of Zero Emission Fossil Fuels Power Plants (ZEP)). Dr Sweeney Started his talk by reviewing CCS projects around the world such as Boundary Dam and their inapplicability to the UK. He stressed that governance issues have to be certain in order to deal with the path to 2050. He also spoke about the problem of every single thing on energy union being only on research and innovation and the importance of ambitious milestones. Dr Sweeney concluded that DIY should include doing five key things including; involving lots of philanthropic money, defining the role of CO₂ operator, getting some people to volunteer to do things together in storage area, and opening a network to everybody. He concluded his message saying it was time to DO IT OURSELVES.

The second talk titled “CCS the Silver Bullet Travelling at Snail’s Pace’ was delivered by Ms Joan MacNaughton (Senior Energy and Climate Policy Professional). Ms MacNaughton’s talk briefly covered the history of CCS from a policy perspective, the present global position, and also offered a view on the prospects for large scale deployment. She started by identifying the certain commitment from China and USA as a very good news. She said the UK was forging a path through development of energy path and CCS for the future. She stressed that the share of CCS in R&D spending is going up gradually, but this is fine but we need to get through to it in action. She spoke on the importance of how we get people to understand the impact or difference CCS can make and is making. The speaker also spoke on key issues (i) level of admission point (getting everyone to sign up), (ii) transparency, (ii) issues of finance i.e. honouring promises made etc. she concluded that since 2005 CCS is still the silver bullet that’s been moving at snail’s pace and how it’s important to change the mind set and general perception about the role that CCS can play. She suggested areas for improvement among academics, policy makers, power generators etc. She stressed the need to think about how to fund development of power in developing world to be made CCS ready or renewable.