Take it away

Calera’s plant uses captured carbon to make cement.

Coal-burning power plants are under fire as individual states and the federal government attempt to crack down on industries contributing more than their share of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to the atmosphere.

Some states, including California and Washington, have banned new coal plants from being built, and Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) in 2007 introduced a bill that would have barred all new coal power plants from being built in the United States unless they use the “best available” emissions reduction technology.

Coal-burning power plants are under fire as individual states and the federal government attempt to crack down on industries contributing more than their share of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to the atmosphere.

Some states, including California and Washington, have banned new coal plants from being built, and Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) in 2007 introduced a bill that would have barred all new coal power plants from being built in the United States unless they use the “best available” emissions reduction technology.

That technology is currently carbon capture and storage (CCS), and its fans, which include both private and public investors, hail it as a bridge to a low-carbon future for a fossil-fuel reliant world. While there are many different CCS technologies, they all involve capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from fossil-fuel power plants and industrial facilities and transferring it to permanent storage sites, such as in underground geologic formations.

It’s a win-win situation—in theory of course.

Critics deride CCS as a fairy tale, a too-good-to-be-true technology fix that’s pulling attention and resources from other, more proven, GHG reduction strategies. With long timelines, even for projects that are already underway, the debate isn’t likely to be settled any time soon. But love it or hate it, in the meantime, one thing is certain: CCS is bringing in big bucks.

Fueling R&D
With coal accounting for more than 40 percent of CO2 emissions worldwide, it would take about 3,000 CCS projects by 2050 to reduce GHC emissions to 50 percent of 2005 levels, according to International Energy Agency. That means CCS would be responsible for about 20 percent of total GHG reductions.