THE CARBON UNDERGROUND
Editors Note: Jojo A. ('18) wrote this piece in response to a New York Times article for his advanced chemistry class.
An article by Henry Fountain called The Carbon Underground in a New york Times collective, Science News That Stuck With Us in 2015 outlines the companies that are working to store carbon underground and the politics surrounding it. One of these companies, The Carbon Sequestration Project, otherwise known as CarbFix, based in Iceland, gathers carbon emissions and pump them underground to keep them out of the atmosphere to minimize the detrimental effects to the Earth’s climate. To combat rapid climate change an agreement between many world leaders was signed in Paris late last year to reduce global carbon emissions. This made projects, such as CarbFix, move at full force. A clean energy investment fund financed by bill gates, lead to the financial backing of many carbon storing companies. Although they have had many difficulties, carbon capturing projects are very close to being able to capture and store carbon on a large scale.
One notable carbon storing plant is located in Saskatchewan Canada where it collects carbon from a coal plant. Since the carbon storing mechanism collects ninety percent of the carbon emissions from the coal plant it would be equivalent to taking 250,000 cars off the road. While Canada did give a hefty donation of 220 million dollars the carbon storing plant cost 1.2 billion dollars. This plant is just one among many examples that prove how much time and energy is spent on saving this planet.
A much larger carbon storing plant is located in Kemper County, Mississippi has encountered both financial problems and countless setbacks. Six and a half billion dollars has been put into the plant, three times the original estimate. The plant has also encountered numerous time delays costing them time and money. The main issue with building plants like these is that they cost a lot of money, which can only come from a sustainable industry which happens to be absent.
An industry around storing carbon is what the world needs right now. Pressure has been put on companies to start storing their carbon emissions however the laws and policies surrounding this issue aren’t strong enough. The only way to sustain such a market is to make “a requirement to substantially reduce emissions” says Edward S. Rubin, a professor at Carnegie Mellon. The canadian government has recently made reducing emissions a requirement and the Obama administration hopes to do the same. However, with any policies there will always be loopholes and if large power companies know there is a loophole they aren’t going to make the ethical decision. Not only do the companies not want to pay for these expensive projects in the short term but it will also have long term diminishing effects on their energy turnout and profits. Power Companies are now left with the difficult decision between changing for a better climate and future or to maintain prosperous with enormous revenues.
The future of the carbon capturing is dependent on how world leaders work together to make strict laws to keep greenhouse gasses out of the environment. Stricter laws will lead to minimal loopholes so it will be difficult for companies to work around restrictions and develop an industry around minimizing greenhouse gas output. As Professor Rubin said “Inevitably, there will be a balance between technological capability, cost and political realities.” and in order to save our planet we need to to push the boundaries of all three of these complex fields.
Fountain, H. (2014, July 21). Corralling Carbon Before It Belches From Stack. Retrieved January 10, 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/22/science/corralling-carbon-before-it-belche s-from-stack.html
Fountain, H. (2015, December 27). The Carbon Underground. Retrieved January 10, 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/12/28/science/2015-top-sciencestories.htmlrref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacemen t=1&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=1
One notable carbon storing plant is located in Saskatchewan Canada where it collects carbon from a coal plant. Since the carbon storing mechanism collects ninety percent of the carbon emissions from the coal plant it would be equivalent to taking 250,000 cars off the road. While Canada did give a hefty donation of 220 million dollars the carbon storing plant cost 1.2 billion dollars. This plant is just one among many examples that prove how much time and energy is spent on saving this planet.
A much larger carbon storing plant is located in Kemper County, Mississippi has encountered both financial problems and countless setbacks. Six and a half billion dollars has been put into the plant, three times the original estimate. The plant has also encountered numerous time delays costing them time and money. The main issue with building plants like these is that they cost a lot of money, which can only come from a sustainable industry which happens to be absent.
An industry around storing carbon is what the world needs right now. Pressure has been put on companies to start storing their carbon emissions however the laws and policies surrounding this issue aren’t strong enough. The only way to sustain such a market is to make “a requirement to substantially reduce emissions” says Edward S. Rubin, a professor at Carnegie Mellon. The canadian government has recently made reducing emissions a requirement and the Obama administration hopes to do the same. However, with any policies there will always be loopholes and if large power companies know there is a loophole they aren’t going to make the ethical decision. Not only do the companies not want to pay for these expensive projects in the short term but it will also have long term diminishing effects on their energy turnout and profits. Power Companies are now left with the difficult decision between changing for a better climate and future or to maintain prosperous with enormous revenues.
The future of the carbon capturing is dependent on how world leaders work together to make strict laws to keep greenhouse gasses out of the environment. Stricter laws will lead to minimal loopholes so it will be difficult for companies to work around restrictions and develop an industry around minimizing greenhouse gas output. As Professor Rubin said “Inevitably, there will be a balance between technological capability, cost and political realities.” and in order to save our planet we need to to push the boundaries of all three of these complex fields.
Fountain, H. (2014, July 21). Corralling Carbon Before It Belches From Stack. Retrieved January 10, 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/22/science/corralling-carbon-before-it-belche s-from-stack.html
Fountain, H. (2015, December 27). The Carbon Underground. Retrieved January 10, 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/12/28/science/2015-top-sciencestories.htmlrref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacemen t=1&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=1
