CCS Revisited: Wind & Solar Investments Outshine Carbon Capture Expenditure since 1970

 

ChatGPT & DALL-E generated panoramic image that vividly contrasts the environmental and economic impacts of burning fossil fuels and attempting carbon capture with the sustainable, clean energy production from wind and solar power

CCS Revisited: Wind & Solar Investments Outshine Carbon Capture Expenditure since 1970

Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) have been on the hype cycle, but the fundamental issues persist. The alternatives, especially wind and solar, prove to be more effective. Despite recent investments, the global impact of CCS remains minimal. In the CCS Redux series, old articles are revisited, shedding light on its inefficiency.

Recently, Carbon Engineering secured $68 million in 2019 for its air carbon capture. CleanTechnica explored why this solution isn't a viable answer to global warming. The global investment in CCS totals around $7.5 billion in the past decade, mainly from fossil fuel majors.

Assembled from Global CCS Institute and other data sources by author

The Global CCS Institute, seemingly a PR arm for the fossil fuel industry, downplays capital costs, making it challenging to assess the actual impact. Only a few 'large'-scale plants exist, primarily focused on enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Norway stands out, with Sleipner and Snøhvit CO2 Storage facilities sequestering around 30 million tons over 1–2 decades.

Comparing the carbon avoidance value, if the $7.5 billion were spent on wind energy in the last decade, approximately 50% more CO2 would have been avoided than with CCS. Wind energy could have prevented around 33 million tons of CO2 emissions, surpassing the 22 million tons sequestered by recent CCS schemes.

Looking at a 50-year perspective, if wind generation was chosen instead of various CCS schemes, approximately 122 million tons of CO2 could have been avoided—37 million tons or 43% more than CCS. Wind and solar combined displace about 35 times more CO2 annually than the entire global history of CCS.

Table of large CCS sites by year, rate of carbon ‘sequestration’ and adjustment for enhanced oil recovery by Michael Barnard, Chief Strategist, TFIE Strategy Inc

In context, global oil and gas revenues were about $2 trillion in 2017, and CCS costs, even generously estimated, represent only 0.03% of their annual budgets. Wind and solar, with 600 GW and 400 GW capacity respectively, are displacing CO2 on a much larger scale, making CCS appear negligible in global warming mitigation efforts.

CCS remains a small player, overshadowed by the substantial impact of wind and solar. Its dependence in climate change strategies, as highlighted by the IPCC, raises questions about its effectiveness in combating global warming.