Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is a crucial technology to enable the decarbonisation of fossil fuel electricity generation. The UK has considerable potential for geological storage of CO2 under the North Sea and extensive offshore industry experience that could be applied. While initial storage is likely to be undertaken in depleted oil and gas fields, much larger saline aquifer formations are estimated to have sufficient capacity to securely contain 100 years of current UK fossil fuel power plant CO2 emissions.

The book covers many crucial topics including the roles and positions that different publics, NGOs, industry, political parties and media are taking up; the way CCS is organised, supported and regulated; how CCS is being debated and judged; how innovation, demonstration and learning are occurring and being conceptualised and promoted; and the role of CCS in the transition to a low carbon energy future.

The authors draw on a variety of approaches, concepts, methods and themes and provide a new understanding of innovation in the energy and climate change fields. It tackles the many issues in a way that speaks to those concerned not only to understand these developments, but to those who are involved in the scientific and technological work itself, as well as those charged with evaluating and making decisions relevant to the future of the technology.

Nils Markusson (Editor), Simon Shackley (Editor), Benjamin Evar (Editor)

Capturing CO2 from power stations and storing it deep underground carries no significant threat to human health, despite recently voiced fears that it might, a study has shown.

Researchers found that the risk of death from poisoning as a result of exposure to CO2 leaks from underground rocks is about one in 100 million – far less than the chances of winning the lottery jackpot.

Scientists from the University of Edinburgh studied historical data on deaths from CO2 poisoning in Italy and Sicily, where the gas seeps naturally from the ground because of volcanic activity.

They found that the number of recorded deaths was very low and say that engineered gas storage underground could be even safer, as it will be planned and monitored.

The study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The article and the supporting information are open access:

• Jennifer J. Roberts, Rachel A. Wood, R. Stuart Haszeldine. Assessing the health risks of natural CO2 seeps in Italy. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2011; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1018590108
  
  

For further information, please contact:
Jennifer Roberts, School Of Geosciences, tel 01316 505936; email Jen.Roberts@ed.ac.uk
Professor Stuart Haszeldine, School of GeoSciences, tel 0131 650 8549; email s.haszeldine@ed.ac.uk
Catriona Kelly, Press and PR Office, Tel 0131 650 4401; email Catriona.Kelly@ed.ac.uk

This toolkit has been produced by the Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage on behalf of the Scottish Government and sponsored by the Global CCS Institute. It guides users through a test regulatory exercise that provides a quick, low-cost, low-risk approach to testing regional and national legislation and regulatory systems for CCS projects, and turning recommendations into reality.

Implementing this toolkit will assist you, government, regulators, and industry to work quickly together to map, test and understand your national regulatory process for carbon capture and storage projects.