Harnessing technology to save our world: Singapore can take decisive action

A chance to change
Singapore can be the first country to take decisive action on storage of carbon dioxide
Andrew Palmer, Straits Times 9 May 09;

A THREAT can also be an opportunity.

One of the major threats to humanity is global warming.

Humankind dumps into the atmosphere 800 tonnes of carbon dioxide each second. That is like wrapping the Earth in a blanket.

The scientific consensus is that temperature and sea levels will rise, there will be more severe storms, and change will be much faster than most climate changes which have occurred in the past due to natural causes.

A collapse of the Antarctic or Greenland ice sheets is possible, and would create a catastrophic rise in sea levels.

Nobody wants to revert to an energy-poor society, but we need to act against climate change.

We must focus on things that can be accomplished now, using existing technology or some credible extension of it, and we have to take action on a very large scale.

The opportunity for Singapore is to take the lead in developing technology that will be needed to counter global warming.

The Republic is not too small to make a difference.

Look at Denmark, a small country with roughly the same population as Singapore.

It took the lead in the modern development of wind energy, starting in 1976 with an energy plan and strong government investment support.

The nation now generates one-fifth of its electricity from wind, with a target of 50 per cent in 2025.

Denmark has developed a wind energy industry that employs 20,000 people, and has built nearly half of the world's wind turbines.

Singapore is also hoping that going green will pay off for the economy by creating 18,000 jobs and adding $3.4 billion to gross domestic product by 2015.

It has set aside a $680 million fund for research, development and training of manpower in environment and water technologies.

It is also providing space for companies to test-bed clean energy, and has also attracted major market players to set up manufacturing and research bases here.

What else should Singapore do?

One solution to global warming is carbon capture and storage, putting the carbon dioxide somewhere else rather than in the atmosphere.

The most popular option is to put it underground.

A typical depleted gas reservoir - a folded natural rock formation that traps and holds natural gas - has held natural gas since the Jurassic period, 150 million years ago.

It ought to be able to hold carbon dioxide, as long as we do not do anything silly, like over-pressuring the reservoir and blowing it up.

That option is not feasible in many places, including Singapore, because the geology is not suitable where there is insufficient porous rock to contain the gas.

However, research into alternatives is ongoing here.

Our work at the National University of Singapore grew out of work for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on carbon capture and storage.

The IPCC, a scientific intergovernmental body, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, together with Mr Al Gore, for its efforts in spreading the message on climate change and laying the foundations for change.

We have been investigating alternatives here.

In the ocean deeper than 2,750m, liquid carbon dioxide is denser than water and sinks. We could pump liquid carbon dioxide down a pipeline into the ocean, and let it form lakes of liquid in hollows in the ocean floor.

The pipeline is straightforward: There are several long-distance carbon dioxide pipelines already.

Where are they and how much do they contribute?

Some people dislike this lake option because they worry that the carbon dioxide might diffuse back into the ocean and acidify it.

One way to solve that concern would be to isolate the carbon dioxide in a sausage-like membrane.

Making the membrane 500m wide, each kilometre length holds 16 million tonnes, so if a 10km sausage were installed every two days and installation continued forever, all the world's emissions could be stored.

The tension in the membrane is less than in the wall of a car tyre.

That is the easier part of the problem.

More demanding are the political questions, as they almost always are.

As yet there is little public support for any decisive action in the area of carbon storage.

But someone has to take the first step.

The same was true of wind energy in Denmark when its wind energy programme began.

Now there is a major export industry, a lot of power, and public support from almost everybody.

The writer is a professor at the National University of Singapore's Department of Civil Engineering