Carbon capture has a lot to offer provided it is retro-fitted first to existing coal-fired power stations (Report, 10 May). Last week Help Rescue the Planet organised an international conference on climate change at the Royal Institute of British Architects next to the BBC on Portland Place. Among the 50 or so presentations was a revolutionary method of carbon capture from a company in Finland that requires no storage as the products are all usable. The raw ingredients for their process are feldspar (abundant in the earth’s mantle), water (even seawater) and CO₂. The reaction produces useful heat, plus rare valuable minerals, aluminium, quartz sand and water with dissolved bicarbonate. The latter can be used for irrigation (bicarbonate also has a fertilising effect), processed to produce solid calcium carbonate (for use in construction), or filtered to produce drinkable water, so the process can also work as a desalination plant. Pity that none of the 50 or so journalists that were invited bothered to turn up.
Dr Robin Russell-Jones
Conference organiser, HRTP