The Important Carbon Capture and Storage Debate

As discussions over energy and climate change legislation heat up in Congress, Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), its feasibility, and its role in the world's energy future has taken center stage.

CCS is a technology that captures carbon emissions from coal power plants, condenses it into a liquid, and stores it, usually underground. Many of the component technologies already exist and there are four projects underway worldwide at he moment. But there is yet to be any large-scale deployment of CCS and the economics tend not to make CCS financially viable in its current form.

The reason why CCS is so important is because it offers a lifeline for one of the most prevalent carbon emission sources worldwide. If CCS can be viable, then there is less, even little, need to pump money into renewable energy alternatives and transform global energy supply. If CCS will not become viable, then alternatives to coal must be found with haste.

CCS becomes hugely important for those in Congress tasked with writing energy policy and designing appropriate cap and trade schemes. Either far-reaching legislation is needed to wean the US and the rest of the world off of dirty coal power production (a gargantuan task) or it isn't. The effects of CCS are felt even in the tiny details of the legislation. If CCS is viable, allocating or grandfathering permits to existing utility companies in a cap and trade system would seem reasonable. If CCS isn't viable, then freely allocating permits would be a disaster. A recent video interview with coal lobbyists, suggests how powerful CCS has become in their lobbying efforts.

The question that the public must answer is how much faith we should have in a technology to save the planet from destruction. There is no denying that human ingenuity is extraordinary. With a serious push from government for CCS (something that has not yet been tried) it seems reasonable that a CCS dream might come true. On the other hand, there are limits to human ingenuity and resting the fate of the planet on scientists and entrepreneurs might be foolhardy.

Either way, we must decide soon if we are going to look to CCS to change the environmental impact of coal or if we are going to look elsewhere for coal substitutes.