EcoBlog

Carbon Sequestration refers to the provision of long term carbon storage underground, beneath the sea, or used in enhanced oil recovery applications. By injecting C02 into the sea or earth it allows a quick solution to the problem at hand. A major area of concern is the topic of leakage. Injections into oil wells, aquifers, etc in the earth have a 99% retention probability. The ocean, at depths of over 2000 meters have a retention probability of 85%. Carbon Capture Technologies are expensive (up to $50/ton carbon captured) and add a burden to power plants who supply electricity to consumers. This burden is shifted to consumers. It is this reason (along with inefficiency reasons) why CCS technologies are not being seriously considered. However, global warming will continue to increase and thus carbon capture technologies need to be implemented. With omission levels of 7000 Tg of C02 being omiited each year by the US we need a short term fix. The government needs to issue grants, subsidies, and taxes to lift this burden from the power plants. Also a cap and trade system could be implemented starting with the current omissions and gradually declining. We also need to think about the energy we use in every day life. Decisions need to be made by people to reduce the energy we currently use. This will be the hardest step. Legislation will likely be required.