Carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) links together technologies that separate carbon dioxide (CO2) from fixed point source emissions and transport it by pipeline to geologic reservoirs into which it is injected underground for long-term containment. Previously, models have been developed to minimize the cost of a CCS infrastructure network that captures a given amount of CO2. The CCS process can be costly, however, and large-scale implementation by industry will require government regulations and economic incentives. The incentives can price CO2 emissions, through a tax or a cap-and-trade system, or involve the purchase of CO2 by oil companies for enhanced oil recovery from depleted oil fields.

This paper explores stakeholders’ perceptions of the risks and benefits of CCS technology, and how those perceptions changed with additional information provided by CCS technology experts.

On June 2-3, 2008, ETIP hosted a workshop on "Public Perception of Carbon Capture and Storage Technology."

In this Belfer Center discussion paper, Bielicki describes SimCCS, a cost-minimizing geospatial deployment model used to deploy CCS for a variety of combinations of CO2 sources and injection reservoirs. The purpose of SimCCS is to determine the returns to scale for CCS deployment and to unravel the determinants thereof.

In this presentation on Capture and Storage (CCS), given at Clark University on October 18, 2007, Jeff Bielicki focuses on the interactions between technology, policy, economics, regulation, legal liability, and social acceptance - how each is embedded in the other and how each influences each other. He also summarizes the influence of CCS on power plant locations and on coal-to-liquids facilities.

The United States and China account for about 43% of global emissions. What are the barriers, incentives and policy solutions to deployment of carbon capture and storage technologies in the world's biggest two CO2-emitting countries?

Bielicki's presentation addresses the interacting economies of scale associated with CO2 transportation, electricity transmission, and coal shipping. He provides two cases, one for a coal-fired power plant and one for a coal-to-liquids plant.