Researchers Find Perfect Spot for Carbon Storage
July 15, 2008
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Scientists have discovered a vast basin off the west coast of California and Oregon that could be use as storage for carbon emissions in an effort for emitters to cut their carbon footprint. The basin is estimated to be big enough to hold 150 years worth of US carbon emissions, which amount to 1.7 gigatons each year.
The use of carbon capture and storage technology is appealing in the fight against global warming as it allows people to continue to burn fossil fuels like coal, which is cheap and abundant, while minimizing carbon emissions.
There remain many variables over the cost of carbon capture and storage at this site that could prevent it from being used. The location is several miles off the coast and would need a new pipeline network to transport the carbon emissions that far from the coast and deep under water. As well, if it were to be used for the whole country to cut their carbon footprint, emissions would have to be collected and transported to the Pacific North West.
Should the costs prove too high, there would be no point in adopting the technology when other forms of alternative energy, such as wind and solar, would be more cost effective at reducing their carbon footprint. However, if a carbon tax were implemented, that would make carbon capture and storage more appealing, although the same would be true for wind and solar.
The location of the basin lies beneath hundreds of feet of sediment, which is already below thousands of feet of ocean. This would help ensure safe storage as it is far from land inhabited by humans, and the pressure at that depth would transform the carbon into a chalk like substance that would not float to the surface even if there were a leak.
David Goldberg, one of the researchers, said “This is the first good example of a site that is of the scale that can potentially make a dent on the problem of carbon dioxide storage.”
However, despite the potential of the technology and the promise of this site to store carbon emissions, most scientists still believe that the widespread use of carbon capture and storage is more than 10 years away.
While there are currently many projects and test sites in operation around the world that use carbon capture and storage to reduce their carbon footprint, there are still no large scale ventures, although some are predicting a rush of investment into this area in an effort to fight global warming.
To further complicate matters for the site, there is the additional obstacle that it is in international waters so the rights to use the site for carbon storage would be hotly debated.
A spokesman from Greenpeace, Daniel Kessler, said “We are against carbon sequestration. The reality is that the technology are going to require billions of dollars of investment. If we go that way, it’s going to come at the expense of renewable energy.”
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