by B. Stone

Created on: January 24, 2009

Today we are coming to terms with global warming and the ever-growing carbon footprint that humans are making on the environment. We understand now that our existence and our way of life is polluting the earth in ways that have spun out of control, to the point where we are literally warming the earth, and affecting natural weather patterns in a dangerous way. Just as it is human technology that created all of this excess waste in the first place, it is the same inventive spirit that can for now alleviate, and eventually solve the problem.

One solution that scientists are examining all over the world is carbon sequestration, or carbon storage. Global warming is caused by too many greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, as they absorb and emit the sun's radiation, trapping heat. These gases are a necessary part of the earth's atmosphere, because without them our planet would be too cold to inhabit. But because of the sudden increase in carbon emissions over the past century, the concentration of greenhouse gases has increased faster than the earth's environment can naturally keep up with. The belief is that to sequester, or trap and store the excess carbon that nature isn't able to do on its own, will slow down, and possibly reverse the effects of global warming. There are several avenues of carbon sequestration. They are, geologic sequestration, terrestrial sequestration, and oceanic sequestration.

Geologic sequestration, also called geosequestration, is a method of capturing carbon dioxide emissions before they are released into the atmosphere from coal-fired power plants. The carbon is then compressed into a liquid and injected deep within an underground hole. In September of 2008 a coal-fired power plant in Spremberg, Germany was the first to successfully capture and store its carbon emissions. This process is however controversial because it is a difficult, expensive procedure, that would consume nearly as much energy as it would save. Also, there has not been enough research to determine the prolonged safety of storing huge amounts of carbon beneath the earth. To actually capture the carbon is nearly impossible because the gas emitted from the power plants isn't pure; it is diluted with nitrogen gas. Presently, they are trying to capture the carbon with amine absorbers and cryogenic coolers. The price of this process is $150 per ton of carbon, which could cause the cost of electricity to rise from 2.5 cents to 4 cents per kilowatt hour.

Geosequestration also

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