Responding to the threat of global warming

There is every reason to believe that technology can respond to the threat of global warming-the capacity of humans to react to difficulty by inventing new technology combined with parallel social change has often been demonstrated.

The increasing level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is a significant factor in increasing the climate change attributable to mankind. An attractive partial solution to this problem is to lock up the CO₂ produced so that it does not get into the atmosphere. One way that we can do this is to dispose of it into the deep oceans. I am in favour of examining this approach, and hope to be involved in the initial trials as a result of my expertise in the laying of deep water offshore pipelines.

Some of the CO₂ dumped in the atmosphere finds its way into the ocean. Intentional sequestration in the deep ocean will have local biological effects, but they may be more acceptable than leaving the CO₂ in the atmosphere.

Current research indicates that it will be relatively straight forward to separate, liquefy and transport CO₂ to a point where it can be disposed of in the deep ocean, when it is being produced in large quantities, say as output from large power stations. However it is more difficult to capture CO₂ generated by small sources such as from cooking stoves, planes and cars. Other options for reducing the threat of CO₂ pollution such as energy conservation and re-forestation ought to be pursued in parallel.

Professor of Petroleum Engineering

E-mail

Telephone:
+44 1223 3 32718

Fax:
+44 1223 3 32662