Algae could tackle CO2

Provincial gov’t brainstorms ways to combat AB’s greenhouse gas emissions

Wednesday, 21 March 2007

In conjunction with Bill 3, the provincial government’s new environmental bill focusing on climate change and emissions, Alberta might be looking to go green by using algae to capture carbon dioxide (CO2).

Rob Renner, Alberta’s Minister for the Environment, believes that despite our province’s high emissions output, the tiny organism could, in fact, do the job.

“I was told that it’s not unrealistic to think that they could scale up the production of this algae to the point where they could absorb 100 million tonnes of CO2 a year,” Renner said.

This statement follows the introduction of new technology-centered legislation by the Tories, which targets industries and businesses that emit more than 100 000 tonnes of greenhouse gases annually. Bill 3 calls on these companies to reduce their emissions intensity, the amount of greenhouse gases produced per unit of production, by twelve per cent beginning1 July, 2007.

But while this legislation is expected to affect over 100 companies, representing almost 70 per cent of Alberta’s industrial emissions, Renner admitted that most of them won’t be able to meet the legislation’s target by July.

If a company can’t meet the twelve per cent in CO2 reduction required by the legislation, they’re given two options by the government. They can choose to either purchase “offsets” from other Alberta-based sources that have reduced their greenhouse gas production, or they can contribute $15 per tonne above their target to a technology fund. That money would be used for the development of technologies such as carbon sequestration, which is essentially pumping CO2 underground, or CO2-absorbing algae.

However, not everyone is happy with this new legislation. David Eggen, an NDP MLA for Edmonton-Calder, voiced his concern over the use of intensity based, rather than absolute, reduction targets, saying that as a result the bill was essentially meaningless.

“[Because Bill 3] bases its targets on intensity rather than absolute reductions, as long as an emitter is expanding and as long as the economy is growing, then CO2 output increases,” Eggen explained.

However, Renner, who advocates the technological approach to greenhouse gas reduction, predicts that scaling down industrial production in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions would spell doom for Alberta’s resource-based economy.

“It’s incumbent upon us to recognize that a reduction of energy production in Alberta is not going to substantially harm anyone other than Alberta,” Renner said.

According to Eggen, however, the equation isn’t that simple. He said that by focusing on untested and undeveloped technology instead of actual emissions reductions, the government risked lost time in the fight against global warming, as well as lost money.

“The [government’s technology-centered] scheme has a surreal element to it, except for the sober and unpleasant reality that the government would waste billions of dollars on it,” Eggen said. “[It’s] a boondoggle that would make the gun registry seem modest.”