Scientists have come to a consensus that climate change is occurring and that the anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) are a significant contributor. It is therefore essential that countries around the world find a way to manage these emissions. Carbon dioxide (CO_2,) is the largest anthropogenic GHG and coal burning power plants are a leading emitter.Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies may be an option for capturing CO_2 before it enters the atmosphere and sequestering the gas terrestrially. The U.S. and governments around the world are evaluating the allocation of financial resources for this and other mitigation options. This, article highlights some of the major challenges associated with CCS, including site selection, transportation, monitoring, risk management, liability, financial requirements and knowledge gaps.Although the IPCC report assesses the potential for ocean storage of CO_2, most current projects, proposals and research focuses on underground geological storage. It is the subject of this article.The IPCC report indicates that due to high costs. CCS systems are unlikely to be deployed on a large scale in the absence of explicit government policies that require substantial reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere. Ed.
展开▼
