World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi to debate cutting-edge carbon technologies

CCS is based on the capture of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion and industrial processes. The captured CO2 is then stored in mature oil and gas reservoirs or saline aquifers.

Supporters of CCS claim that it will greatly reduce greenhouses gases without putting a brake on development, while offering topflight investment opportunities. This is the equivalent of taking many millions of cars off the world's roads, without a negative impact on personal mobility. It looks like a win-win-win opportunity.

However, its opponents say CCS will encourage continued use of fossil fuels, and divert investment from clean energy technologies already in effective operation. They cast doubt on its feasibility, and fear that the storage element will not provide a long term solution for future generations.

This cutting-edge debate will be one of the WFES will be the first international conference on green energy following the historic agreement reached by the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali earlier this month.

'CO2 Capture and geological Storage (CCS) is a technology that could cost-effectively solve a quarter of the world's greenhouse gas problem.'

That is the striking claim that Iain Wright, CO2 Project Manager at BP Alternative Energy will make to the WFES session PARALLEL STREAM 1: Carbon Management on 22 January. (He says the other three-quarters of the problem can be solved by other technologies that exist today, such as energy efficiency - smaller cars, compact fluorescent light bulbs - and renewable sources of energy - solar, wind, biofuels).

This session will be chaired by Barbara N. McKee, director of the US Department of Energy. While Wright concedes that 'the early deployment of industrial-scale CCS projects will involve substantial costs and risks', he will make an urgent call for 'a set of regulatory and fiscal conditions to manage some of the risks and remove barriers to investment.' He will also describe the experience of BP - a sponsor of the summit -- with experimental industrial-scale CCS projects.

But not everyone attending WFES is likely to be convinced. A statement from the environmental watchdog Greenpeace, whose International Executive Director, Gerd Leipold, will be participating at the summit suggests that 'a combination of renewable energy sources, energy efficiency and demand side management could meet our energy needs without compromising either economic development or the environment.'

Arguments about these issues all too often take the unfortunate and sterile form of a dialogue of the deaf between business interests and environmental campaigners. As the scale of the climate change threat hits home globally, however, positions are shifting on all sides, and new thinking is emerging, which will be highlighted at WFES.

Jonathon Porritt, whose green credentials as a former director of Friends of the Earth are impeccable, is much more favourable to CCS. Now Co-Founder and Programme Director of Forum for the Future, Britain's leading sustainable development charity, he has written an article specially written for WFES. Porritt says: 'carbon capture and storage (CCS)… has the potential over the course of the next 20 years or so to store away hundreds of millions of tonnes of CO2 that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere. Most environmentalists remain very nervous about CCS, but I just don't see how we can achieve the necessary reduction in concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere without a massive international commitment to CCS'. Porritt will be making one of the keynote addresses to WFES on the opening day.

The current EU position on CCS is also very positive. The most recent communication on sustainable power generation from the EU Commission states that: '[CCS] technology is well developed and tested but needs to be adequately adapted for a large-scale use in power generation... Bringing CCS to commercial viability in coal-fired power generation will pave the way for its application also in combustion processes using other fossil fuels, notably gas. This will enable a transition to 'Sustainable Fossil Fuels' in power generation.'

The scale of the investment opportunities offered by future energy options worldwide can be gauged by the presence of leading financial and investment group at the summit.

A number of companies pioneering carbon capture will be pitching their products at the large exhibition taking place at WFES.

The World Future Energy Summit 2008 will be held under the patronage of HH General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and will be hosted by Masdar, Abu Dhabi's multi-billion dollar, multi-faceted response to the need for a global focus on alternative energy and sustainability.

'As part of Masdar's mission to develop new technologies that will help meet the world's future energy needs while managing our impact on the environment, we are taking the lead in driving the progress to achieve a low carbon economy in Abu Dhabi and the region,' said Sam Nader, Director of Masdar's Carbon Management Unit.

'We believe the Gulf region can play a key role in advancing Carbon Capture and Storage for Enhanced Oil Recovery and taking the technology to a commercial stage. This technology is particularly important for Abu Dhabi as it has the potential to reduce large amounts of CO2 emissions and replace the natural gas currently injected into oil reservoirs.' He added 'during the second half of 2007, we completed a carbon capture feasibility study as the first step in our project to develop a CCS network in Abu Dhabi. We look forward to presenting and discussing the study at WFES.'

Of course, a conference such as the World Future Energy Summit does itself create carbon emissions. Consistent with its overall theme and vision for the future, the organisers are working with the CarbonNeutral Company to make WFES a CarbonNeutral® Event.