Addressing Climate Change through
Carbon Capture & Sequestration
Most scientists agree that the Earth’s temperature is rising, and there is strong evidence to suggest that this is due, in part, to increased emissions of greenhouse gases from fossil fuels -- the most prevalent being carbon dioxide or CO2. Today, much of the world’s economy runs on fossil fuel energy. And, when carbon-based fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas are used to fuel conventional electricity generating plants, carbon dioxide is produced and emitted into the atmosphere. As developing countries like China and India expand their use of fossil fuels to generate ever more electricity, even more CO2 will be released.
Carbon dioxide is a natural part of our environment. CO2 is the gas we exhale when we breathe, the source of the bubbles in our carbonated beverage of choice, and the gas that trees synthesize into oxygen. Carbon dioxide is neither toxic nor inherently dangerous. It is a natural part of the life cycle and our atmosphere. It is the overabundance of atmospheric CO2 that is believed to be contributing to global climate change.
As data on the progression of global warming is gathered, it appears more imperative that carbon dioxide emissions need to be curbed. This is why California and other states have passed legislation to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide into the air and why environmental organizations, community leaders and energy businesses are supporting and developing ways to capture carbon and sequester it permanently so it is not released into the atmosphere.
Over the past decade, energy companies in different places around the world have begun to employ a new strategy for managing carbon dioxide emissions. They are capturing the CO2 and safely sequestering, or “storing,” it in impermeable underground rock formations.
In addition to transitioning to new, renewable sources of energy, as well as adopting conservation and efficiency measures to reduce the use of traditional energy sources, carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) provides a means to reduce the CO2 from traditional sources of energy. Many experts see this as a promising, viable, safe and proven means of addressing global climate change.