UTILIZING THE "BUILT ENVIRONMENT" LEGACY OF FOSSIL FUELS FOR A CLEAN ENERGY FUTURE

Fossil fuels have powered civilization. As such, the environmental legacy of energy is the environmental legacy of fossil fuels. Damage to the natural environment includes soil, air and water contamination largely related to production and high greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere which are largely due to fossil fuel combustion. While the energy transition promises the opportunity to mitigate the effects of global warming it will exacerbate other extractive industry challenges. Irrespective of how we arrive at our energy future, some combination of moderation of consumption and a quantum increase in efficiency are vital. Part of the legacy of the fossil fuels industry is an enormous infrastructure which can be utilized for good. This network of wells, production facilities and pipelines can either be an environmental liability or a way to efficiently leverage our clean energy future. This presentation explores two ideas being tested to repurpose this infrastructure to produce cleaner energy. The first is extraction of lithium from the waste stream of oil and gas production. The second involves utilizing abandoned oil and gas infrastructure for carbon sequestration. Both cases are tested with real life examples and are commercially viable under specific assumptions/conditions. The principal challenge is that because this infrastructure was not designed with the clean energy future in mind, it offers good but not optimal solutions. Irrespective of this issue, these examples suggest that the "built environment" created by the oil and gas industry is a potentially beneficial legacy for a clean energy future.