CCS a costly goal

“Carbon capture and storage” (CCS) popped up again on the BBC news on 4 November as it enables fossil fuel power stations to minimise their greenhouse gas emissions.

Norway and Denmark have 
reportedly abandoned their 
efforts to develop CCS because of the escalating costs, amongst other issues.

Pumping cleaned-up compressed carbon dioxide into depleted oil fields looks so simple unless the gas leaks back out. Can the UK succeed in developing a large, low-cost system when no-one else has? A Mississippi project is apparently heading to a final cost in excess of $5 billion (£3.13bn).

Success guarantees being able to continue to use fossil fuel power plants for decades to come without breaking our climate-change “covenants”. It would mollify those opposed to nuclear power, and could lead to a halt in the proliferation of unreliable onshore wind turbines.

Joe Darby

Dingwall

Ross-shire