Abstract
The potential advent of the unconventional gas industry and the probable introduction of largescale CO2 storage in Europe has generated public concern regarding contamination of groundwater and surface water resources. Like other technologies, the large-scale exploitation of the subsurface is not without risk of environmental impacts. Hence, the main objectives within WP4 have been to:
- Develop new technologies to improve the detection and monitoring of environmental impacts related to geo-energy projects.
- Apply, and test a range of pre-assessment methods, monitoring technologies, systems, and strategies to contribute to effective (best practice) risk evaluation, establishing baseline conditions, and monitoring and managing impacts.
WP4 consists of various topics related to CO2 storage or fracturing of shale covering, for example, groundwater geochemistry (gas), molecular microbiology, (micro) seismicity, ground movement and atmospheric gas concentrations. Due to the experimental state of most of the methods, costs of devices as well as running costs are unknown, while parameters such as the physical scale covered by the method and to what extent automation is possible is known to some extent. The final section of this deliverable includes a table summarizing the principles of the different methods, the parameters measured, with indications of coverage, ease of use and to whether automation is, or could be, an option since this is a critical parameter for continuous monitoring at remote locations.
- Develop new technologies to improve the detection and monitoring of environmental impacts related to geo-energy projects.
- Apply, and test a range of pre-assessment methods, monitoring technologies, systems, and strategies to contribute to effective (best practice) risk evaluation, establishing baseline conditions, and monitoring and managing impacts.
WP4 consists of various topics related to CO2 storage or fracturing of shale covering, for example, groundwater geochemistry (gas), molecular microbiology, (micro) seismicity, ground movement and atmospheric gas concentrations. Due to the experimental state of most of the methods, costs of devices as well as running costs are unknown, while parameters such as the physical scale covered by the method and to what extent automation is possible is known to some extent. The final section of this deliverable includes a table summarizing the principles of the different methods, the parameters measured, with indications of coverage, ease of use and to whether automation is, or could be, an option since this is a critical parameter for continuous monitoring at remote locations.