CO2 Capture and storage in energy production

Carbon Dioxide (CO2) – a major participant in the greenhouse effect process. Carbon Dioxide is a blanket, retaining heat on our planet, which would otherwise escape. The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere and heat are proportional – when the former increases, the latter does the same. For the last few decades the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has increased globally by approximately 60% and continues rising by 3,2% per year. To deal with the problem of climate change, countries should decrease the amount of CO2 emissions released globally by using renewable energy in housing, transportation, and energy providing. Also, new environmental solutions and technologies should be developed in order to protect the world from the rapidly increasing temperature which will cause more frequent natural disasters, raising in the sea level and can bring harm to the human health. Carbon Capture and Storage is a technology which is used to capture big emissions of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) released into the atmosphere from stationary point sources such as power plants and energy intensive industrial processes (pulp and paper, steel and oil refineries, etc.). The technology can be integrated into the combustion of fossil fuels during energy generation, where CO2 is captured and transported to the “storage bank” in order to isolate it from the atmosphere. The main goal of CCS is the “struggle” against global warming and climate change. The researches and examples of existing CCS systems show the benefits in establishing this technology as it may reduce up to 90% of Carbon Dioxide emitted into the atmosphere from the power generation and other industries. Hovewer, many limitations and barriers exist to implement and develop CCS in the world. The limitations are associated mainly with costs, lack of knowledge and government policies, as well as general public unawareness. The development of the system is too slow to capture the green market due to the high risks of leakages and human mitakes, lack of governmental supply, policies and financing. The future goals include the distribution of CCS projects all other the world and accordingly the reduction of costs of the interacting the system into the plant. The Savonia student awareness research showed great diversifications in the opinions concerning the necessity and the capability of CCS which is relevant to the current global situation. The analysis is based on the discussions and the answers to question during the Sustainability and Engineering course. The 62% out of 29 students have accepted the CCS system and consider it to be a great and innovative solution for the reduction of CO2 emissions in the nearest future. Only 28% of all students decided that the technology is too risky and has no future development