Jake Simon
Earth 002
Assignment 3- The Carbon Cycle: Strategies to reduce CO2 emissions
April 23, 2012
IntroductionCarbon Dioxide emissions are an issue that has gained a lot of attention over the
past few decades. If nothing is done to stop the increasing emissions, we will all be in
danger. A lot of attempts to reduce and/or stabilize the carbon emissions are in effect but
decarbonizing electricity is the key to achieving deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.
There are many ways to decarbonize electric power generations, ranging from renewable
energies (i.e. wind power, solar power, tidal power and geothermal power) to different
techniques to hide the CO2 emissions elsewhere (i.e. Biofuels/Biomass and Carbon Capture
and Sequestration).
The “wedge” approach that was thought up by Robert Socolow is a method to
stabilize the carbon emissions by breaking the problem into much smaller pieces. Each
smaller piece can then be attacked with current technology (as explained above). The
‘wedge’ approach shows how technologies now exist to meet the world's energy needs over
the next 50 years and tries to limit atmospheric CO2 emissions to come.
Decarbonizing Method TechnologyCarbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) is a leading technique to the ever-growing
issue of carbon dioxide emissions. CCS is a technology to prevent large quantities of carbon
dioxide, and other greenhouse gases, from being released into the atmosphere. The
technology involves,
I.
II.
III.
Capturing carbon dioxide that is produced at large industrial plants,
Transporting the CO2 to storage sites,
‘Pumping’ the CO2 deep underground.
As explained above, capturing the CO2 at the manufacturing plants requires large amounts
of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas. When the CO2 is transferred and then pumped into
underground storage sites, the carbon dioxide is securely and permanently stored away
from the atmosphere in underground rock.
This specific technology helps decarbonize electrical power generation by simply
storing the CO2 underground. Although ‘burying the problem’ is not always the best
solution, in this way, it seems to be helpful to the carbon dioxide emissions problem. CCS is
one of the most promising techniques because we inject the carbon dioxide directly into the
ground instead of letting it accumulate in the atmosphere. On average, CCS reduces around
90% of carbon dioxide emissions depending on the power plant size and type.
Resource AnalysisThere are many different methods of storage for carbon capture and sequestration
ranging from ocean, soil/biomass and geological sequestration. Each method is different
and thus has its own pros and cons.
Geological Sequestration is when the
CO2 that is captured is stored in
depleted or depleting gas fields or deep
saline aquifers and coal seams. This
process of capturing the carbon actually
can help to improve oil yield as well as
store the carbon dioxide emissions in
fields that already contain oil in them.
This process is not perfect because we
Young, Genevieve. "Mineralization." Cartoon.
Geological Sequestration 4 Feb. (2011). Web.
20 Apr. 2012.
may not have enough room in reservoirs to hold all the carbon emissions and/or the CO2
may leak due to corrosion. The figure above shows how geological sequestration injects the
carbon dioxide directly into the ground, specifically showing the many layers.
Compared to geological sequestration, ocean sequestration is direct injection of the
carbon dioxide into the deep ocean. By
injecting carbon dioxide into the ocean
at a depth of around 3000m, the carbon
dioxide can be kept away from being in
contact with the atmosphere for nearly
200 years! The ocean has an enormous
capacity to absorb and store the carbon
but storing too much carbon in the
Ocean Sequestration of CO2. 2012. Art Cartoon.
PowerPlantsCCS.
ocean can lower the pH value of the
ocean, causing it to become more acidic. The figure above shows ocean sequestration and
both the capture and injection of the carbon dioxide into deep levels of the ocean.
Specifically on the east coast, the ocean sequestration is a method that is more likely
to be useful near power plants because we are so close to the massive ocean. Unlike a lot of
central states, we have easy access to the ocean, although mixing sequestration methods
would increase the total amount of CO2 stored.
Challenges of ScaleThere are many obstacles to implementation at the scale necessary to make a
significant impact on United States greenhouse gasses. These obstacles include cost and
project difficulties. There are technically no fully integrated projects out there yet, which is
definitely a challenge to reducing the carbon emissions. Also—cost is one of the biggest
deterring factors because of how expensive the process actually is. Since people aren’t
willing to pay for ways to decarbonize electric power, the price is very high, which only
discourages the process even more.
Bibliography-
Benson, Sally. "What is Carbon Capture and Sequestration?." Northwestern University
Climate Change Symposium. Northwestern.edu, Oct. 2010. Web. 21 Apr. 2012.
<http://osep.northwestern.edu/sites/default/files/ClimateChange/CarbonCaptureA
ndSequestration.pdf>.
"Burying the problem." Canadian Geographic. N.p., 3 Feb. 1998. Web. 20 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/magazine/JF08/indepth/weyburn.asp>.
Ocean Sequestration of CO2. 2012. Art Cartoon. PowerPlantsCCS.
<http://www.powerplantccs.com/ccs/sto/nc/oce/oce.html>.
Pacala, S, and R Socolow. "Stabilization Wedges." ScienceMag. Science, 13 Aug. 2008.
Web. 16 Apr. 2012.
< http://www.sciencemag.org/content/305/5686/968.abstract>.
"What is CCS?." Global CCS Institute. N.p., 2010. Web. 19 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.globalccsinstitute.com/ccs/what-is-ccs>.
Young, Genevieve. "Mineralization." Cartoon. Geological Sequestration 4 Feb. (2011).
Web. 20 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.dnr.sc.gov/SCO2/>.