Introducing Carbon Sequestration

Approximately forty eight million tons of carbon dioxide was injected into the surface of the earth last year by American energy outfits alone [1].  This injection of carbon dioxide not only enhanced the production of energy, but also indirectly addressed a global issue, the rising amount of greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere.  It is worldwide scientific consensus that greenhouse gases from manmade influences are becoming a problem, and carbon sequestration could be one solution to reducing overall emissions associated with climate change.  Carbon sequestration is the practice of capturing carbon dioxide that would otherwise enter the atmosphere and effectively depositing it in a reservoir for permanent storage.  Presently, carbon sequestration occurs most often in depleted oil and gas reservoirs, but is also being expanded into the scope of terrestrial and ocean related means of storage.  Historically, carbon sequestration has taken place for decades, though not in a direct effort to reduce global greenhouse gases.  It has mainly existed as a petroleum industry geo-engineering technique.  For optimists, the outlook of carbon sequestration’s ability to reduce greenhouse gases is completely positive, but skeptics point out that there are numerous existing and undeveloped challenges.  Several key issues such as cost, safety, proving storage permanence, verifying the existence of sufficient storage capacity, and proving no subsisting damage to the environment need to be resolved before carbon sequestration can be fully deployed as a global emissions control option.  Yet, with successful carbon sequestration occurring around the globe everyday, carbon sequestration remains among one of the most promising choices in potential climate change solutions.

[1]Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum.        http://www.cslforum.org/publications/documents/CSLF_inFocus_UndergroundStorage_Myth.pdf
Accessed January 26, 2011