The Bryan Lovell meeting was held in London at the Geological Society on the 21ˢᵗ, 22ⁿᵈ and 23ʳᵈ January 2019. 29 presentations were given, 10 posters presented, and the latter parts of the afternoons were allocated to panel-led discussions. Attending from Quintessa was Emma Cairns.
In the Year of Carbon, the Geological Society aims to explore the transition to carbon-neutral fuels and energy sources, and the critical importance of planning for a carbon-neutral society.
The meeting was wide ranging and included sessions on carbon capture and storage, mineral and material resources, renewables, geothermal energy, hydrogen power, nuclear power and geological disposal, the role of oil and gas in decarbonisation, and energy transition history. Industry, academics and government department representatives were all present.
Overall, two areas in which Quintessa is actively working, i.e., carbon capture and storage, and geothermal energy, featured strongly in the meeting and were considered by those attending as the most up and coming topics across Europe. Quintessa’s CO₂ storage projects have included the White Rose Project, CO2ReMoVe and RISCS: Potential Impacts of CO₂ Storage on Receptor Environments. For geothermal, Alex Bond is supporting Fiona Todd (Edinburgh University) in her PhD in Geothermal Heat Extraction.
Panel-led discussions were focused around how to integrate the geosciences to create a unified agenda to underline the urgency of decarbonisation to decision makers. Questions were asked about the technical and financial challenges of decarbonisation project scale-up, and how we can encourage collaboration between projects. It was considered that the knowledge, infrastructure and skills base of the existing energy sectors should be used to facilitate the transition to a carbon-neutral society.