Events & Courses

The role of geological science in the decarbonisation of power production, heat, transport and industry

Meeting Report

At the meeting, 100 delegates gathered to discuss the opportunities for decarbonisation offered by geoscience and the subsurface. 

The meeting was attended by both geoscience and social science academics, representatives from industry (BP and Equinor), the British Geological Survey, statutory bodies such as the Committee on Climate Change and public organisations such as Radioactive Waste Management. 

This report was produced as an overview of the meeting outcomes Bryan Lovell Meeting report 2019

Videos from the Meeting - See the full playlist

Introductions

Speakers: Mike Stephenson and Stuart Haszeldine

Day One

Trends in World Energy and decarbonisation

Speaker: Spencer Dale

Biomass Energy with CCS: Unlocking Negative Emissions

Speaker: Clair Gough

Materials for the Energy Transition

Speaker: Karen Hanghoi

Day Two 

Science, Policy and Decarbonisation

Speaker: Chris Stark

H21 North of England 

Speaker: Henrik Solgaard Andersen

Clean technology raw materials: Rare Earth Elements 

Speaker: Frances Wall

Day Three

Public Views of Geoscience Decarbonisation Options

Speaker: Nick Pidgeon

Role of oil and gas in decarbonisation

Speaker: Philip Ringrose

Advancing the Energy Transition

Speaker: Dominic Emery

Bryan Lovell's Response

Bryan Lovell attended the meeting - available is an audio file of his comments on geology and carbon  Bryan Lovell's Address

More videos from the conference are available - See the full playlist

Meeting Summary

Decarbonisation is central to Government and international policy and this three day conference hosted national experts from industry, academia, and government to look at the geological and reservoir engineering aspects of the problem. The main objective was to identify the high level barriers to progress and the main science questions - and begin a roadmap to solve the problems.

In the UK and elsewhere, decarbonisation of power production, industry, transport and heating to meet climate change targets is a major challenge and one that intrinsically involves the subsurface and geoscience.

Decarbonising centralised power generation will involve expansion of renewables as well as the civil nuclear program.  Renewables will require a huge increase in grid-scale energy storage to cover intermittency, which will mean greater reliance on more efficient batteries, pumped storage and compressed air energy storage.

Geothermal power, heating and cooling will require assessment of resources and impacts of development, while the safety critical nuclear sector will require a detailed understanding of risks associated with natural hazards such as seismicity as well as meeting the challenge of effective geological disposal of radioactive waste. 

All require geological studies, for example investigating the geological origin and prospectivity of transition metals and rare earth elements for batteries; or for siting of power station, dams and tunnels in pumped water storage; geological studies for compressed air energy storage (CAES); and detailed characterisation of the subsurface for radwaste disposal.

A transition may also involve more natural gas and hydrogen, with implications for the possible supply of ‘home grown’ shale gas, and the underground storage and transport of hydrogen. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) and ‘bio-energy and CCS’ (BECCS), require fundamental research into geological sequestration and its environmental implications.

Keynote speakers

Chris Stark, Chief Executive - Committee on Climate Change

Nick Pidgeon - Cardiff University

Other confirmed speakers

Martin Blunt, Frances Wall, Ingrid Feyling,Jonathan Turner, Seamus Garvey, Clair Gough, Sebastian Bauer, Charlotte Adams, Jon Gibbins, Tracy Shimmield, Jonathan Pearce, Thomas Koebel, Karen Hanghøj, Thomas Driesner, Adele Manzella, Henrik Solgaard Andersen, Ben Sovacool

• Mike Stephenson (British Geological Survey)
• Dave Schofield (British Geological Survey)
• Sebastian Gieger (Heriot-Watt University)
• Phil Ringrose (Equinor/NTNU)