This terrorist attacks every nation in the world! Allowing these terrorists, to continue their terrorist activities has been too much for the world to tolerate. But the good news is that the terrorist has been captured and we have found a way to put them away for future rehabilitation. The world was waiting for good examples of success, and now we have it, in India!
The terrorist I am referring to here goes by the code name Co2 - carbon dioxide. The havoc it creates across the world is in the form of global warming from excessive emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, mainly for coal fired power plants, and steel & cement manufacturing plants.
Global warming leads to climate change that has results in extreme weather events like floods, droughts, acidification of oceans, etc., causing much destruction and devastation across the world.
A lot of effort has been made to mitigate the effects of global warming by developing renewable energy technologies that do not result in greenhouse gas emissions. But the fact remains that many countries are committed to coal & fossil fuel fired power and other manufacturing plants which are not going to go away in a hurry. So what do we do with the emissions from these monsters.
Scientists have been working on technologies called Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) to capture the Co2 from coal and other fossil fuel fired plants, and store them for reuse. Until now, governments have been sceptical of this technology, and in fact in the UK the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) declared that it will fully remove the £1bn available for a pioneering CCS scheme for power stations.
It was once said that capturing carbon and storing it underground is like the moon landing - extremely difficult. But just as the lunar landing transformed the US economy, a successful CCS technology can change the path of the planet. The potential benefits for oil rich economies like Norway of capturing and storing Co2 in the depleted oil and gas reservoirs under the North Sea is huge. The problem is that it is very expensive, and the efficacy and safety of this kind of storage was in doubt.
Now, the first fully commercial plant that can capture Co2 at a reasonable cost has been launched. Carbon Clean Solutions Limited (CCSL) has initiated a project that will see more than 60,000 tonnes of Co2 captured from the 10 megawatt coal-fired power station based near Chennai, India.
The ground-breaking project, believed to be the first of its kind, is privately financed and will capture Co2 at just $30 per tonne - much lower than the $60-90 per tonne capture costs typically observed in the global power sector, the company said. The captured CO2 will then be used by Indian firm Tuticorin Alkali Chemicals & Fertilizers (TACFL) for soda ash production.
"This project is a game-changer," said Aniruddha Sharma, chief executive officer at CCSL. "By capturing and crucially, re-using, Co2 at just $30 per tonne, we believe that there is an opportunity to dramatically accelerate uptake of this technology, with its many benefits, around the world. This is a project that doesn't rely on government funding or subsidies - it just makes great business sense". The technology has been proven at pilot scale in five countries including the UK, USA, Germany, Norway and the Netherlands.
So at last there is hope. Co2 emissions can be captured, stored and reused. At last we are making some progress with the Co2 terrorist. Now the world needs to adopt this technology at a rapid pace.
