The global community is increasingly making commitments to reduce the amount of carbon emissions in the atmosphere. More and more carbon-free renewable energy sources are being used all the time. But despite the tremendous growth in solar and wind power, fossil fuels still provide about 80% of the world’s energy. Coal still provides about 40% of worldwide electricity. Realistically, these numbers can only go down at a relatively gradual pace.
Given this situation, the use of carbon capture and storage (or CCS) technology is an important part of a comprehensive strategy to reduce overall emissions. CCS removes most of the emissions from industrial processes such as coal-fired power plants. It is a developing technology that has a way to go before it is truly cost-effective and widely adopted, but it is making real progress.
There are now 15 large-scale CCS projects operational around the world and that number is expected to grow to 22 over the next 18 months. There are also numerous pilot and demonstration projects across the globe.
The current and forthcoming CCS plants can capture about 45 million tons of carbon per year. But according to the International Energy Agency, CCS needs to capture 100 times as much carbon – more than 4 billion tons per year – in order to keep global warming at bay. Whether the technology can get there is an open question.
Drastically reducing worldwide carbon emissions constitutes an enormous challenge. There are multiple strategies that are applicable. The truth is that no one of them can do the whole job; we will need to pursue all of them, including CCS.
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Photo, posted December 9, 2013, courtesy of the Department of Energy and Climate Change via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.