'Iceland's iconic volcanoes' lecture

On Monday February 2nd, the Geographical Society took a trip to the RGS in Kensington to hear science journalist Alexandra Witze talk about 'Iceland's iconic volanoes'. She focussed on seven of her 'favourite' volcanoes: Laki, Surtsey, Hekla, Heimaey, Bárðarbunga, Eyjafjallajökull, Snæfellsjökull. These are only a fraction of the more than 30 active volcanoes in Iceland. Witze commented that the extensive volcanic activity on the island is due to its location directly above the Mid-Atlantic Ridge as well as a hotspot. Both of these provide Iceland's volcanoes with molten material.

One eruption well remembered by much of the audience was Eyjafjallajökull, which led to airspaces above Europe closing for 6 days due to the risk of ash entering engines and forming a glassy substance. Despite the publicity given to this eruption due to its international impacts, the effects on Iceland were small compared to some of the others Witze mentioned. For example, Laki erupted in 1753-4 for 8 months, releasing many toxic gases including sulphur dioxide, which directly and indirectly killed many Icelandic people. The lava flows also entered river channels, evaporating the water in them and disrupting hydrological cycles. In total, one fifth of the island's population was killed as a result of this eruption. 

A similar issue with sulphur dioxide is arising with the currently erupting Bárðarbunga volcano. Sulphur dioxide levels in towns near the volcano are well above recommended levels of exposure, and the Icelandic authorities are unsure on how to deal with this. 

The eruption on the island of Heimaey had an interesting story. Lava flows were threatening to cut off an importing shipping route near the harbour on the island, so hundreds of the island's residents attempted to limit the path of the lava by spraying it with water in the hope of it cooling and thus solidifying (and it worked!). 

Alexandra Witze also touched on the historical and cultural importance of volcanoes in Iceland. For example, Icelandic folklore sees Hekla as a gateway to hell.

Although some of the group wanted to hear more about the physical processes behind the volcanic eruptions, I am sure that this talk will prove useful when lower sixth geographers take a trip to Iceland this summer. 

Ella Witts

'China's Future?' Lecture

On Monday 8th September, four members of the Epsom College Geographical Society travelled to the Royal Geographical Society in London to listen to Timothy Beardson speak on 'China's Future?'. Having lived in, worked in, and advised China for thirty five years, Timothy is an expert in this part of the world.

During his talk, he presented some of the key national and international challenges facing China and to what extent these may affect the present rapid pace of development. He wanted to focus on the possible problems that China may encounter in the foreseeable future. He brought to life for the audience the daunting array of challenges that today confront China, as well as the inadequacy of leadership's responses. Threats to China come from many fronts and by their number and sheer weight these problems will prevent the nation's ambition to take over as the world's "Number 1 power". Drawing on extensive research and experience living and working in Asia he gave details of China's situation: an unstoppable demographic future of the ageing, extreme gender disparity, a shrinking labour force, and even a falling population. Also, he suggested, the nation faces social instability, a spoiled environment, a low-tech economy with inadequate innovation.

He has also written a book 'Stumbling Giant: The Threats to China's Future' which goes into further detail and bravely counters widely-held assumptions that have predicted the near-certainty of China's rise to global supremacy. Overall, the lecture was well worth it and it is something we would find very useful to do again.

Zoe Olsen

Is Carbon Capture and Storage our solution to climate change?

Climate change is arguably one of our generation’s most significant problems. 97% of scientists agree that humans have caused climate change; with the IPCC stating that all of the global warming since 1950 is human-caused. Our efforts must now turn to how we can prevent the impacts of this phenomenon from becoming too severe, and carbon capture and storage (“CCS”) is a promising solution.

It involves capturing the carbon dioxide from power plant emissions, transporting it through pipeline and then storing it, generally in geological formations, where it remains. Evidently, this is a brilliant concept. It has the potential to remove 80-95% of the carbon dioxide from electric power plants, which will reduce total greenhouse gas emissions by 19%.

CCS also enables coal to remain an important, if not dominant, source of energy for years to come without heavily damaging the environment. This will prevent the energy shortages that are threatened if proposals to build new coal-fired power plants continue to get rejected. 

Another benefit of this is that the economic model of most countries will not have to be as dramatically altered as it would with other proposed strategies to combat global warming. Naomi Klein, an author and social activist, claims that the current battle with climate change is a product of the capitalist economies of many leading nations today. CCS appears to offer a perfect solution to keep environmentalists and corporate elites happy.

However, there are limitations to the effectiveness and possible viability of CCS. Firstly, although storage sites have been predicted to retain 99% of the carbon dioxide over 1,000 years, the possibility of leaks remains. In 1986, a release of as much of 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from a crater lake in Cameroon killed 1,700 by asphyxiation. Despite this being entirely due to natural causes, it demonstrates the potential impact of human exposure to a leak from storage sites.

Also, due to the fugitive property of carbon dioxide, it will migrate throughout the pore space of the storage formation. This has the potential to cause seismic events, as well as polluting aquifers that hold the water we drink.

Finally, carbon capture and storage is not cost effective. It requires 10-40% of the energy produced by a power station, which means fuel consumption will increase by 30%. Estimates are that a carbon price of US$60 per ton will be required to make CCS competitive, which will increase the average residential electricity price by 50%.

As a result of this, methods have been proposed to make CCS more cost effective. Enhanced Oil Recovery involves injecting the captured carbon dioxide into depleted oil fields, which forces out more oil. This can be sold, which would bring about net benefits of US$10-16 per tonne. A new process called bio CCS algal synthesis uses carbon dioxide in the production of oil-rich algae, which can be used to make oil and, in turn, plastics or make food for farm animals. Either of these methods enables carbon capture to be profitable.

A Norwegian company, Statoil, introduced the world’s first carbon capture and storage project in 1996. It enables the company to avoid the Norwegian carbon dioxide tax, which would have been NOK 1 million per day, as well as gaining them carbon dioxide credit for the gas that they inject into the sandstone storage site. There has been no evidence of carbon dioxide leakage and no seismic activity. By May 2008, over 10 million tonnes of the gas had been stored. 

CCS in Norway

This displays the potential success of CCS if governments around the world commit themselves to reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Measures can be taken to avoid the possible risks and drawbacks associated with the process if economic funding is readily available; and governments should ensure that it is if the worst impacts of climate change are to be avoided.

Ella Witts