7 ————— cpt LefNTON Global Warming: Is carbon capture _.., and geoloaical storage part of a“ solution? Dr. Bill Gunter explains: By Nancy Tinari ast Friday, Douglas College students and the public were treated to a lecture by Dr. Bill ' Gunter addressing one of the most pressing problems of our time: climate change. Initially, the mood in the Laura C. Muir theatre was light. Dr. Randy Alex, a chemistry instructor at Douglas, introduced Dr. Gunter, a world-renowned expert in the field of Carbon Management and Geological Storage (CSS). Dr. Alex mentioned Dr. Gunter’s many academic credentials but seemed even more enthusiastic about his penchant . for wearing colourful-ties. Dr. Gunter kept up the banter as he started his talk by showing a cartoon from the Calgary Herald. Just like religion and politics, climate change is a topic that people won’t bring up in polite company! Dr. Gunter quickly moved on to address the gravity of the problems Canada, and the rest of the world, are facing with respect to steadily rising CO, emissions. Currently, fossil fuels meet 75 per cent of Canada’s energy requirements. These energy sources are heavy CO, emitters. In spite of the views of some dissenters, it is generally agreed that CO, emissions are a major contributor to greenhouse gases, which in turn are causing global warming. Canada will fail abysmally in its 14 commitment to meet the Kyoto target of lowering CO, emissions by 2012 to six percent of 1990 levels. In fact, Dr. Gunter predicted that if Canada continues on its present course, our CO, emissions will double in 50 years. Other countries such as China and India, with their huge populations and burgeoning industrial growth, will be much worse. The conclusion is: We’re facing a huge problem, one that will require not one, but many solutions. There are two basic types of solutions, said Dr. Gunter— adaptation and mitigation. Adaptation means not changing our use of fossil fuels. The result would be detrimental effects on all of the Earth’s ecosystems, including oceans, forests, deserts, wetlands, glaciers and more. Then we would have to address this environmental degradation using solutions such as relocating populations, building dikes to reduce flooding, providing special health care and economic assistance to devastated areas, and changing agricultural patterns. The above are desperate solutions. That’s why mitigation solutions are essential. We can mitigate rising CO, emissions in three ways: 1) By reducing the carbon intensity of our energy sources—this means fuel switching to nuclear and renewable energy sources like solar, wind, water and biomass. 2) By improving our energy efficiency using other types of technological advances. 3) By carbon management, or CSS. The latter strategy is Dr. Gunter’s area of expertise. It means storing CO, deep within the Earth’s crust, in the same kinds of geological formations that oil and gas are extracted from. Why is CSS necessary when there is so much work being done on renewable energy projects? We read every day about improvements in solar technologies, electric cars, hydrogen fuel cells, wind power and other technologies. Why can’t we reduce CO, emissions by using renewable energy sources more - extensively? Dr. Gunter’s answer was that these energy sources currently supply only a tiny percentage of Canada’s (and the world’s) energy requirements. Moreover, he said, it would take 25-50 years to bring these technologies through the stages of concept development, lab testing, pilot projects and large-scale projects to the point where they could make a significant contribution to our energy needs. Therefore, Dr. Gunter sees CSS as an essential part of the strategy for managing rising CO, emissions. He illustrated how CSS works by using the Heartland Area Redwater Project (HARP) north of Edmonton as an example. This an area with many industries related to oil and gas that produce huge CO, emissions. Beneath this area is an ideal place to store CO,—the Redwater Reef. Dr. Gunter showed a cross-section of the kind of geological formation where CO, can be stored. These sedimentary basins are made up of many layers. Some layers are aquifers deep under the surface into which CO, can be injected. Other layers, called aquitards, are impermeable to water and act as barriers that trap the CO, and prevent it from escaping: Dr. Gunter believes that CSS is an essential part of the solution to rising CO, emissions because it will buy us time. CSS will make it possible to remove CO, from the atmosphere for several decades while renewable energy technologies are being developed. However, CSS is extremely expensive. Separating CO, from other chemicals after burning fossil fuels is expensive; so is the building of pipelines required to transport the CO, to places where it can be pumped underground. Canadians will have to make difficult — choices about the technologies we support and the projects our government funds. I believe Dr. Gunter’s statement about renewable energy sources not being a significant source of energy for 25-50 years is unduly pessimistic. Human ingenuity is infinite; if we choose to support innovators financially, they will make alternate energy sources feasible much faster than that. In the meantime, though, Dr. Gunter made a convincing case for the role that CSS can play in mitigating CO, emissions.