Lay perceptions of carbon capture and storage technology (original) (raw)
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Climate Policy
A series of meetings of two 'Citizen Panels' were held to explore public perceptions of off-shore carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) capture and storage (CCS). In addition, a face-to-face survey of 212 randomly selected individuals was conducted. We found that, on first hearing about CCS in the absence of any information on its purpose, the majority of people either do not have an opinion at all or have a somewhat negative perspective. However, when (even limited) information is provided on the role of CO 2 storage in reducing CO 2 emissions to the atmosphere, opinion shifts towards expressing slight support for the concept. Support depends, however, upon concern about human-caused climate change, plus recognition of the need for major reductions in CO 2 emissions. It also depends upon CCS being seen as just one part of a wider strategy for achieving significant cuts in CO 2 emissions. A portfolio including renewable energy technologies, energy efficiency, and lifestyle change to reduce demand was generally favoured. CCS can be part of such a portfolio, but wind, wave, tidal, solar and energy efficiency were preferred. It was felt that uncertainties concerning the potential risks of CCS had to be better addressed and reduced; in particular the risks of accidents and leakage (including the potential environmental, ecosystem and human health impacts which might result from leakage).
Public perception of carbon capture and storage (CCS): A review
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a technology enabling to use fossil fuels in a sustainable way. Therefore, it attracts much attention from the industrial sector, government authorities and scientific community. However, public awareness of the technology is extremely low, and the studies of the lay people's opinion have been launched only during the last decade. Taking into account the role of public support during the implementation of CCS projects, the authors would like to present herein their review of materials on this subject published during 2002-2018 (135 articles). As part of our review, we determined 9 key aspects forming the public perception of CCS. For each of the key aspects, we summarized the available results of the studies. Apart from that, we compared the CCS current status in different countries and provided a number of reasons for involving new countries into the fight against global warming. This work shows that most attention is devoted to CO2 storage; whereas its capture and transportation are poorly studied in terms of public perception. Wider development is required for the methodology enabling a transition from global rhetoric concerning global warming issues to the implementation of particular projects, namely, CCS. The issues related to public awareness of CCS are studied rather thoroughly, but no recommendations are provided regarding the establishment of an optimal database for the lay people. Numerous assessments of general public perception have been carried out. However little attention was paid to the regions with active projects, namely, to the factors considered the most important by the local public, and how actual project results meet their expectations. Therefore, despite an extensive scientific base developed over 17 years, further studies should be aimed at filling the existing gaps. This will enable to improve CCS attractiveness for the public, including the cases when it is compared with alternative low-carbon technologies.
Greenhouse Gas Control Technologies 7, 2005
Carbon capture and storage technology (CCS) represents a potential effective tool in managing carbon emissions. Its effectiveness ultimately hinges upon its acceptability by the public. Little is known about how willing the general public will accept various options of CCS. This study's purpose is twofold. It first seeks to assess general perceptions of various forms of CCS. It then seeks to identify various factors that influence public acceptance of CCS. The study was done with a survey conducted in the Japanese cities of Tokyo and Sapporo in December 2003. Two versions of a survey questionnaire were administered to adults residing in this city through multi-stage sampling. One version provided limited education about CCS; the other version, a full education version, provided more extensive information about CCS. A total of 1,006 respondents participated in the study, equating to a total response rate of 63.9%. Data were analyzed using factor analysis, comparisons of means and rank order distributions, and through a multiple regression model. The findings of the study suggest that the general public generally supports CCS as a part of larger national climate policy. However, they are negatively disposed about implementation of specific CCS options involving deep-sea dilution option of ocean storage, lake type option of ocean storage, onshore option of geological storage, and offshore option of geological storage. Education about CCS affects public acceptance. In specific, the more information respondents obtained about CCS, the more likely they are to support those storage options except for onshore option of geological storage. Four important factors influencing public opinion involve environmental impacts and risks caused by injection of CO 2 (including possibility of leakage), effectiveness of CCS based on realizing the CCS as one of useful mitigation options of the climate change, societal responsibility for the environment, and relation of CCS with maintenance on fossil fuel use. Each affects public acceptability for CCS in general as well as support for implementation of four specific technology types of CCS.
Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe - HAL - Diderot, 2012
Social Acceptance remains a key factor for the deployment of renewable energy infrastructures projects. However, we notice that in most of the cases, the aim of the social acceptance research is mainly focus on communication about this infrastructure. We think only in focusing on this aspect, these researches miss part of the social dimensions at stake in the acceptance of a technology. According to Sociology and Philosophy of technology's theoretical knowledge, we develop a new framework to take into account social dimensions involved in technologies implementations. In this section we mainly refer to CTSC deployment examples. We expose a critical point of view of previous surveys and then propose a new theoretical and heuristic framework in the implementation of CTSC technologies project.
A socio-technical framework for assessing the viability of carbon capture and storage technology
… Forecasting and Social …, 2012
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is seen as a key technology to tackle climate change. The principal idea of CCS is to remove carbon from the flue gases arising from burning fuels for electricity generation or industrial applications and to store the carbon in geological formations to prevent it from entering the atmosphere. Policy makers in several countries are supportive of the technology, but a number of uncertainties hamper its further development and deployment. The paper makes three related contributions to the literatures on sociotechnical systems and technology assessment: 1) It systematically develops an interdisciplinary framework to assess the main uncertainties of CCS innovation. These include technical, economic, financial, political and societal issues. 2) It identifies important linkages between these uncertainties. 3) It develops qualitative and quantitative indicators for assessing these uncertainties. This framework aims to help decision making on CCS by private and public actors and is designed to be applicable to a wider range of low carbon technologies. The paper is based on a systematic review of the social science literature on CCS and on insights from innovation studies, as well as on interviews about assessment of new technologies with experts from a range of organisations and sectors.