Carbon capture and storage – Is the future green-hot for coal?

It is a universal truth that burning of coal is one of the major causes of global warming, acid rain and other toxins in the air. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, about 3,700,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) is released into the atmosphere – by a typica coal plant in an year. It may sound oxymoronic if one talks about using coal and going green. Well, why not? Carbon Capture and Storage, or CCS in short, seems to be the technological answer to this oxymoron!?

The US 2008 elections are red hot right now, and many who’ve voted for Obama or McCain are keeping their fingers crossed. Obama and McCain touched on this CCS during their presidential debates, and looks like CCS will be well funded on the American soil, irrespective of whoever comes to power. If this happens, Americans will not be the first to test run or implement this new technology. Schwarze Pumpe coal power plant in the Brandenburg district of Germany is the world’s first CCS-enabled coal plant.

What is CCS?

CCS is a method to capture carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions from massive coal and other fossil fuel-based power plants, and literally entomb them inside geological formations such as deep inside ocean floors, and/or turn them into bicarbonates using limestone. The technique of actually keeping them tightly sealed under the ocean bed or other geological formations is beyond the scope of this article. However, if anyone is aware of such techniques, please feel free to share them over here. Oh! these environmentalists and industrialists come up with something new, everytime there is talk about CO2 and carbon foot print.

The goodies of CCS

Well, global warming, acid rains and smogs will be under control, as a direct effect of not letting CO2 into the atmosphere. Plants, water resources, wildlife, glaciers, and most importantly, humans can breathe easy. It’s been said that about 90% of CO2 emissions being released into the atmosphere can be reduced by implementing this CCS technology.

Consequences

If this CCS is a really good technique that will reduce CO2 emissions, then this should be implmented on a large scale. However, if all coal power plants are to go for this technology, they will try to pass on the extra capital and operational cost to their customers. So, look forward to paying a bit more per unit of electricity consumed. Nevertheless, we must pay a small price to keep our environment liveable. What say you?

Who knows, our future green-coal-powered barbeque grills may have tubes running underground, to prevent CO2 from escaping into the atmosphere.

So, in a few years from now, let’s look forward to living in a CO2 free, clean and green world.

Tags: acid rain, carbon, carbon capture and storage, carbon-foot-print, CCS, CO2, coal, Environment, environmentalists, global warming, green, green coal, industrialists, new environment technology, new technology, smog

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