Carbon capture and storage – pumping CO2 from power plants underground – is required for dramatic cuts on CO2 emissions. Why is adoption of this technology losing steam?
Renewables or oil? The former means betting each-way on energy storage. The latter means hoping to pull off a trifecta on carbon storage.
Hans Engbers/Shutterstock.com
The question of whether the future will be powered by coal and oil or by renewable energy is crucially important, both to the medium-term future of the Australian economy and to the long-term future of…
Coal seam gas is only one issue for managing one of Australia’s most important geological resources.
AAP Image/Dean Lewins
Sara Bice, The University of Melbourne; Mike Sandiford, The University of Melbourne, and Will Howard, The University of Melbourne
In a recent article on The Conversation, Queensland coal seam gas (CSG) researchers argued that the industry is progressing faster than the science, leading to concerns over fugitive emissions and impacts…
CSIRO’s solar-concentrating mirrors can be used for several purposes, including creating high-energy ‘SolarGas’.
CSIRO
As climate negotiators meet at the United Nations’ Lima summit, which comes hot on the heels of the landmark US-China climate deal, there is a renewed focus on how the world can move to a lower-emissions…
Investing in fossil fuels for the long term? You might find your plans get pricked.
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The controversy ignited by the Australian National University in October, when it decided to sell its shares in seven resources companies, has raised two important questions about divestment from assets…
Could carbon capture and storage be the way to clean up coal power stations, such as this one in Australia’s Latrobe Valley?
Monash University/Flickr
To have any chance of avoiding dangerous climate change we’ll have to reduce the carbon emissions from our energy sectors — currently the largest human source of greenhouse gas emissions globally. And…
A protester at recent Australia climate change rallies in the lead up to the UN climate summit in New York.
AAP Image/NEWZULU/ZOE REYNOLDS
Today more than 120 world leaders are gathered in New York for the Climate Leaders’ Summit. With global emissions continuing to rise, it is easy to be pessimistic. But new research released today shows…
Budgets are often framed as give and take. But in the case of the environment, the government is taking large amounts of money in cuts, while giving little back beyond funding the Direct Action climate…
Biomass energy plants, such as this one in the UK, could be crucial for a low-emission future.
Peter Robinson/Wikimedia Commons
The world may have to rely on “emissions-negative” energy technologies in the latter half of this century, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s new report on reducing the impacts…
Can CCS cast a new light on fossil fuel-fired power stations?
Alan Murray-Rust
Despite the evidence that shows greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels are leading to changes in the planet’s climate, the development of large scale technologies to slow or stop these effects has…
To stop global warming, most governments are advocating reducing the amount of carbon dioxide (CO₂), a greenhouse gas, put into the atmosphere. But some argue that such action won’t be enough – we will…
Iron and steel are components of an almost limitless number of infrastructure and consumer goods. From forks to tanks, syringes to satellites, cars to computers, from buildings to the power stations that…
Carbon and carbon dioxide are found all around us. All living things contain carbon - it’s one of the essential building blocks of life and is fundamental to many chemical processes. Carbon dioxide (CO2…
The term “carbon capture and storage” seems only to appear when shortly followed by “not commercially proven” or “in development”. But construction has now begun on what will be the world’s first commercial…
Coal-fired electricity may have little or no economic future in Australia, a new analysis has found. While the new government seems determined to turn its back on renewable energy, our study shows that…
EU states have agreed that CCS is vital, but progress is slow.
Owen Humphreys/PA
The Energy Technologies Institute recently reported that without carbon capture and storage (CCS), the cost of reaching the UK’s climate change targets will double from around £30 billion per year in 2050…