Environmental Decision Support for Innovative EcoDesign for CCS

The EDecIDe project contributes to our knowledge of the environmental benefits (and costs) of carbon capture and storage (CCS). It may seem obvious that gas-fired electricity generation with CCS is more environmentally friendly than that without, given th e importance of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Nonetheless, CCS involves the use both of energy and of chemicals that themselves have impacts on the environment. Rigorous assessment of these environmental costs alongside the savings is essential for i nformed decision-making on CCS. Furthermore, questions concerning environmental impacts are complex - climate change through greenhouse gases is only one of a range of environmental impacts we must assess (others include, for example, ozone depletion and toxic effects). Many show that the beneficial effects of CCS with respect to climate change come at the expense of higher impacts in other categories. A systematic and rigorous overall assessment requires these different effects to be balanced ("weig hted") against each other, so that sense can be made of an otherwise contradictory array of environmental effects. To address these issues we need tools that can analyse many different environmental issues simultaneously, and also address all phases of a product's life cycle. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is one such method. It systematically identifies emissions, resource / energy use and waste across the whole cycle of (for example) generating a unit of power, from extracting the raw materials right th rough to waste back into the environment (so-called "cradle to grave"). The project uses the LCA approach to assess CCS, but also develops and expands the LCA approach itself. The toxic effects of certain chemicals (in particular, amines and the produ cts amines can break down into in the atmosphere) are accounted for in ways that were overlooked or ignored in previous assessments. The weighting question for different environmental impacts is addressed using a novel model, specific to the Nordic / Arct ic environment. These developments are used within a comprehensive assessment of the environmental impacts of various power generation technologies (with and without CCS).

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is proposed as a viable strategy to mitigate climate change. There is, however, an implicit risk of creating a problem shift where other environmental impacts are introduced. Whether this risk is real and how it relates to different technologies for CCS needs to be assessed. This project intends to develop methods in order to scrutinize these questions. More specifically the project will ensure that: *Human and ecotoxological effects of CCS have been well incorporated int o the existing life cycle assessment model for ecodesign of CCS solutions and the methodology has been tested and verified as an input to decision making in partner companies. *A weighting model with weighting factors that is based on Arctic/Northern and more specific Norwegian conditions and priorities for assessment of the potential trade-offs between environmental effects has been developed and the model has been tested and verified by decision makers in partner companies. *Gaspower with amine-based C CS has been benchmarked with other electricity production technologies (e.g. wind power, coal power) and other post combustion CO2 capture technologies (e.g. novel solvents, adsorption, membranes) with regard to life cycle environmental effects, and the r esults have been proven robust through sensitivity and uncertainty analyses. The project's main contributions will be comprehensive knowledge development of 1) the environmental performance of post combustion carbon capture technologies in general, 2) spe cifics of the environment in Northern regions necessary to be included in environmental evaluations of technologies, 3) linkages between decision making processes and environmental impacts, and 4) tools developed to support decision making processes that aim to include environmental aspects. These knowledge areas are important both for industry and academia, and the output will be used to ensure that environmental criteria are included in technology development.