Introduction

The most comprehensive way of evaluating the environmental consequences of CCS is to carry out a full Life Cycle Analysis. Such studies are detailed and time consuming as well as often being quite project and location specific. A number of LCA based studies have been carried out and hence to gain a better understanding of the findings the Jülich Research Institute was engaged to perform a survey of the relevant literature, draw some general conclusions and indicate what the focus of further studies in this area should be.

Conclusions and Recommendations

This is a useful synthesis report which can serve as starting point for a more ordered approach to applying LCA to Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage. Execution of a full LCA is a time-consuming and expensive undertaking and as such is beyond the budget of the programme. At the same time it is clear that the results of LCA could play a critical role in the decisions which are made on CCS and hence the programme should play a part in ensuring that the necessary unbiased information is made available in a timely manner. The report highlights the need for improved consistency between studies and suggests some specific areas such as generation efficiency and capture efficiency where wide variations in assumptions are affecting results. The programme could consider playing a role in setting up some reference points to allow benchmarking and hence proper comparison of LCA studies. Another area in which work could be done is in defining the environmental effects which are important to include in the scope of a CCS LCA and perhaps to suggest some standard way of making an aggregated comparison.

The report has highlighted that transport and mining emissions are much more prominent than hitherto realised and this is an area which the programme could address in more detail. However the control of emissions from international shipping is an area fraught with complications. At the very least the programme could attempt to set out the facts, indicate the technologies which might be applied and any emission accounting implications.

Another service which the programme could consider is to develop and maintain a database of CCS LCA studies and their results. This would best be done by contracting to a recognised leader in LCA. The existence of a central point for comparison could help to bring a more ordered approach as further studies are undertaken.