Climate and carbon- control or catastrophe

Recording of a lecture given by Prof. Stuart Haszeldine (University of Edinburgh) on Carbon Capture and Storage to the Geological Society of Glasgow on 10/10/24.
Scotland and the UK were cradles of the industrial revolution - built on low cost coal energy creating vast wealth and empire. But since the 1850s and 1930s, and certainly from the 1970s it has been clear that huge emissions of CO2 from burning fossil fuels are driving global heating, creating ocean acidification, causing sea level rise and accelerating dangerous climate change. Combating that requires: greatly decreased use of fossil carbon, capturing all CO2 released by use of fossil carbon, and replacing all possible CO2 into permanent geological storage. Features of UK offshore geological storage sites will be explained, and can mimic hydrocarbon accumulations. But to achieve this at industrial scales of tens of millions tonnes CO2 per year in Scotland and Europe requires commercialisation equivalent to the present North Sea oil industry. Many successful pilot tests have been made, and recent legal victories in UK courts may now presage compulsory storage enacted on coal, oil and gas company producers. The weakest link remains the timidity of global governments to disturb the profitable status-quo, far harder to explain benefits in the 30, 100 and 10,000 yr future. Complete success is possible, but unlikely.
Stuart studied geology at the University of Edinburgh, then did a PhD on coal geology at the University of Strathclyde with Roger Anderton. Instead of working on post-doctoral study, he was employed by the British National Oil Corporation in Glasgow for 3 years,. He then returned to teaching and research at Strathclyde, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
The first half of his career was helping to produce fossil carbon out of the North Sea. The second half was developing the research to show that CO2 derived from burning fossil carbon could be safely stored deep below the seabed - leading many of the first surveys and investigations of feasibility to create a new industry in Scotland. The third half of his career has been to investigate large geological storage of hydrogen, removal of CO2 from air with biochar and basalt, and trying to convince UK and Scottish governments to fund the projects of Carbon Capture and Storage they like to support

[@MrCropper]

The government must lead the way in changing farmland into forest and changing energy-creating oil wells into energy-consuming CO2 containment facilities. And the humans can all just go away. This is dystopia with clean water and green grass.

[@evandavies1230]

When the fraudulent believe their own lies