Abstract
Carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) is a promising yet controversial climate change mitigation technology. While numerous studies have addressed perceptions of CCS in fossil energy applications, less attention has been paid to how other applications of the technology may be viewed by lay groups. This article reports on findings from a twoday deliberative focus group held near Drax power station; a coal-biomass co-firing power plant in the north of England. In so doing we adopt a broad, psycho-socially inspired conception of perceived naturalness in order to explore how perceptions of CCS in biomass, fossil fuel, and industrial applications are formed in the context of a range of potential technologies for supporting low carbon energy system transitions. In particular, we explore how perceptions of naturalness and interdependency shaped perceptions of different CCS applications. Our analysis illustrates how perceptions of CCS as threatening, uncanny disruptions to natural systems may shift when re-contextualised to include concerns relating to the intermittency of renewable energy, or be ameliorated through perceptions of industrial and bioenergy applications as supporting natural and economic interdependencies.
Highlights
Carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) occupies an ambiguous role in literatures on climate change mitigation as both a key technology for emissions reduction and a source of concerns relating to its feasibility and public acceptability
The participants’ general lack of connection to the local power plant was suggestive of a generalised ambivalence found at other sites hosting large infrastructure [46,86]. They described the plant as normally blending into the background of daily life, but on occasion as a source of anxiety triggered by unexpected loud noises or reports of illness in the local population
Our participants were unaware of the cancelled CCS project at Drax, and we found little to no impact on CCS perceptions
Summary
Carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) occupies an ambiguous role in literatures on climate change mitigation as both a key technology for emissions reduction and a source of concerns relating to its feasibility and public acceptability. CCS boasts numerous strengths as a CO2 abatement technology It can be built into new thermal power plants or retrofitted onto older facilities, and is viewed by some as offering a means to significantly reduce emissions in advance of more complex transitions to renewable energy systems [1]. Scenario modelling focussed on limiting global average temperature rises to below 2 °C suggests that CCS could contribute one-sixth of total emissions reductions by 2050 [5]. Given the hitherto slow progress on global emissions reductions, ‘negative emissions’ provided by bio-energy with CCS (BECCS) may provide a means of reducing atmospheric concentrations of CO2 in scenarios where cumulative emissions over-shoot recommended levels [8]. The recently stated goal of the Paris Agreement to ‘pursue efforts’ to limit temperature increases to 1.5 °C means that BECCS has gained salience in mitigation planning and may be essential if more ambitious targets are to be met [9]
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