Johannesburg - Minister of energy, Dipuo Peters, on Tuesday likened the task of saving the environment to embarking on a voyage in Noah's Ark.
"In this room are those chosen men and women who can mitigate climate change," said Peters, addressing a two-day conference focused on carbon capture and storage (CCS) in Sandton.
New to South Africa, the environmentally driven technology is one which South Africa "can't afford to neglect", according to Peters. But what is CCS?
CCS is basically a system that allows firms to capture their carbon dioxide emissions and store them underground.
By one definition it's the injection of a supercritical fluid into the pore spaces of underground rocks. John Gale, CEO of the International Energy Agency Greenhouse Gas research and development programme, said: "You could argue it's a reversal of oil and gas production."
It was said at the conference CCS would improve the energy efficiencies of big businesses, albeit at a cost, both locally and abroad. Said Peters: "It's a no brainer that we need to increase energy efficiencies (up to 12% by 2015)."
CCS has its drawbacks, picked out by the National Business Initiative's director for climate and energy unit Valerie Geen, and Gale - cost being one.
CCS's energy requirements are high. Also, transportation and storage infrastructure need be heavily invested in, not to mention skilled labour.
At the conference, a university student quizzed the panel of speakers as to the real opportunities afforded by such a highly skill-based technology on South Africa's largely unskilled labour force.
Tony Surridge of South Africa's centre for CCS failed to address the question outright, but the panel of speakers beforehand said CCS was a highly specialised field, and posed a problem in the South African context.
It was evident CCS still has to answer to questions of: How safe (long-term) is it to store carbon dioxide underground? What counting measures attest to the level of carbon dioxide seepage from underground reservoirs? What carbon dioxide purity level is acceptable and safe? How will the infrastructure for the transportation of carbon dioxide be manoeuvred around residential holdings?
Also, apart from the sticky issue of swaying public opinion which, according to Gale, shows a "degree of ambivalence overseas", how many people will want to live near a carbon dioxide storage facility?
Economic, ethical overhaul
However, remaining upbeat, Geen added: "This is an opportunity to make more money in a responsible way, to take on new technologies and to adopt fresh economic models as well as ethics."
As part of her address, Geen listed agriculture, forestry, biodiversity, human health and the urban environment as part of a long-term mitigation strategy in South Africa.
By way of example, Sasol earlier this month announced its pursuance of a CCS system. The R184bn petrol giant has the technology (CCS) listed as a short to medium term priority.
Speaking to Fin24.com, Pat Davies, CEO of Sasol, said: "In our case it is inexpensive to capture CO2, because unlike a power station, carbon dioxide from Sasol's facilities is concentrated (and once put down oil wells, enhances oil recovery)."
Of its exisitng operations, Sasol aimed to reduce its carbon outpourings 15% by 2020.
- Fin24.com