released this statement on December 17.
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鈥淔racking鈥� to tap unconventional gas resources could destroy the much-hyped 鈥渃lean coal鈥� carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology.
Earlier this year, reported findings that 鈥渕any of the same shale rock formations where companies want to extract gas also happen to sit above optimal sites envisioned for storing carbon dioxide underground that is captured from power plants and industrial facilities.鈥�
Now that unconventional gas extraction via hydraulic fracturing of coal and shale beds is well underway in Australia, the same questions need to be asked of CCS efforts here, such as the Callide project in Queensland that has .
鈥淎ustralia's booming coal-seam and shale gas industries are going to collide head-on with the government's promises to capture and bury our carbon emissions,鈥� said Matthew Wright of climate solutions think-tank Beyond Zero Emissions.
鈥淐lean coal or CCS is a marketing term, and shouldn't be confused with an actual technology.
鈥淚f you add the huge costs of capturing, compressing and storing underground to coal combustion, renewables look cost-competitive already 鈥� and renewable energy costs are still falling.
鈥淚t's not good enough to pump the CO2 underground and just hope it stays there. There has to be genuine risk management 鈥� for the investors in these projects, as well as for the atmosphere.
鈥淕eologically speaking, an investor would have to be pretty confident that a CCS reservoir has integrity and that the CO2 wouldn鈥檛 just leak out.
"Ironically it is not just the coal industry that is being undermined by this fracking business. The gas industry themselves is making claims that we should back them as a climate solution because it the future they will be offering gas with CCS."
鈥淭here's an easy way out of this conundrum. Build renewable energy, not new gas and coal infrastructure. It's guaranteed zero carbon emissions and it's getting cheaper and more efficient all the time.鈥�