WASHINGTON, March 28 (UPI) -- Norway says carbon capture and storage are pivotal to the successful lowering of the average global temperature.
"Knowing that the world energy demand will increase substantially by 2030, I believe that carbon capture and storage is an important step in our battle against global climate change," said Odd Roger Enoksen, the Norwegian minister of petroleum and energy, at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington Wednesday.
Carbon capture and storage will account for nearly 30 percent of total emission reductions by 2050, he said.
Since 1996, Norway has stored carbon dioxide in geological structures, separating 1 million tons of CO2 from gas reduction. The process takes place on locations in the North Sea.
The country stores the Carbon dioxide 1,000 meters below sea level in geological formations.
A large-scale process will be put in place under the Mongstad Project, which is set to launch by the end of 2014. The project will progress from small-scale research into a "full-scale CO2 capture facility." The first stage begins in 2010.
"This arrangement will ensure that technological developments in Norway will have a growth in international revenues and will not be projected specifically in Norway," Enoksen said.
