Question: is carbon capture a threat to the enviroment

Gemma Purser answered on 25 Jun 2012:

Carbon capture and storage is a way of trying to stop the treat of global warming to the environment by allowing us to maintain the current levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

There could in theory be areas of localised damage caused by leakage of the carbon dioxide finding its way to the surface or from the pipelines when the carbon dioxide is transported as a dense liquid. However the likelihood of the carbon dioxide leaking on a big scale from the storage reservoir underground is low. It is more likely that leakage will occur at pipelines. However there can be technology in place so that the pipeline can be diverted or shutdown while the leakages are repaired.
In Italy and sicily there are natural underground souces of carbon dioxide due to volcanic activity. In these area the deaths that occur due to leakages is very low. Research has been conducted and it was found that there was a 1 in a 100 million chance of a death being caused by exposure to the release of carbon dioxide, which is alot less than the chances of winning the lottery! In these areas too there were no signs or fences to show where the leakage was. CCS will be more controlled and the storage area will be restricted and monitored for leakages making it less likely to harm the environment.