Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter


5

Carbon Dioxide Gets Buried in Midwest Experiment

Site in Illinois may be able to hold 100 billion tons of CO2

Share

(Newser) – Construction began this week on an Energy Department project that aims to bury a million metric tons of carbon dioxide beneath Illinois' surface by 2012, Wired reports. While that's peanuts compared to the billions of tons emitted each year, the project—the largest such injection to date—could pave the way for a multi-state storage site that advocates claim could store 100 billion tons.

The Bush administration scrapped FutureGen, the largest federal carbon sequestration project, last year, and critics have questioned the technology’s viability. But carbon capture in theory remains an attractive solution for states that lack wind and solar power resources, allowing them to keep their coal-fired plants without furthering climate change.

The exterior of the Crawford Generating Station in Chicago, Thursday, April 12, 2007.
The exterior of the Crawford Generating Station in Chicago, Thursday, April 12, 2007.   (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Smoke stacks from the NRG power plant located just outside of Jewett, Texas tower over Texas Highway 39, Nov. 28, 2007.
Smoke stacks from the NRG power plant located just outside of Jewett, Texas tower over Texas Highway 39, Nov. 28, 2007.   (AP Photo/Nick Simonite)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
OFF THE GRID
11.20.09
The Health-Care Wars Have Just Begun
11.19.09
Sarah Palin Deserves Some More Attention
5 comments
VIEWING:
 
dolcevita
Feb 16, 09 4:39 PM CST
Sounds more like eco-terrorism to me, so why is this article written as though these experimenters are champions and heroes? They are polluting and putting the earth's interior chemistry off-balance! Sweeping mankind's greed and excesses under mother nature's rug is not heroic, it is a harmful shenanigan. Not only does burying CO2 waste a mega-billion dollars, but it interferes with the seismic zone that produced 4 of the largest earthquakes in recorded history in North America (the New Madrid and Wabash Valley fault zones). Somebody tell these myopic researchers to use the existing technology that allows use of fossil fuels more efficiently in the first place. It's called ThermoEnergy. See www.thermoenergy.com Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
0
riffran
Feb 16, 09 7:20 PM CST
I agree....great motivation, to reduce CO2, but....what are the long term effects?...Can you imagine a artesian selzer water well?..lol...And besides, if the CO2 manages to get in the local ground water, it will change the PH of the water, making it highly acidic as far as nature is concerned, non viable to plants and aquatic species both floral and fauna.......CO2 + H2O is the basis for soft drinks...just add a little lemon flavor and whammo artesian 7-UP Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
0
Mr.C
Feb 16, 09 8:59 PM CST
The technology behind Futuregen is a lot cleaner than what the US uses currently. (I live in the town where it almost got built - before funding was pulled) Of course it is not near as clean as alternative fuels. Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
0
PaleRider
Feb 17, 09 1:45 AM CST
Plants live on CO2. BS article. Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
0
riffran
Feb 17, 09 12:27 PM CST
gaseous CO2 is used in photosynthesis but plant life cant live well in a carbolic acid enviroment....acid rain is an example of PH change messing thing up....now if the sequestered CO2 will actually penetrate ground water, is unknown Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
0
LEAVE A
COMMENT Comment Policy
Facebook ConnectPost this comment to Facebook?

After connecting you will have the option to post your comment on your Facebook profile.

 

Related Newser Stories

113 Stories

 Globe on Course for 'Worst-Case' Temp Hike

6 degree rise predicted if Copenhagen deal fails

Nov 18, 09 4:08 AM CST
(Newser) - The worst-case scenario for climate change is getting closer to becoming reality, a group of climate scientists warned yesterday. World temperatures are on course to rise an average of 6 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, according to the Global Carbon Project researchers. Experts believe a temperature rise... More »

MORE ABOUT:
climate change • global warming • carbon emissions • Copenhagen climate change conference

 'Counterproductive' 
 Offsets Ditched 

Green flying schemes salve consciences, not environment

Nov 18, 09 2:54 AM CST
(Newser) - Carbon offsets are becoming big business, but many emissions experts say green travel is too good to be true. Responsible Travel was one of the first travel firms to offer customers the chance to pay extra money to help offset emissions caused by their air miles. But it has now... More »

MORE ABOUT:
climate change • carbon dioxide • carbon offsets • air travel • carbon emissions

 Biofuel Laws Make No Sense: Scientists 

Kyoto Protocols actually encourage harming the environment

Oct 23, 09 10:18 AM CDT
(Newser) - Biofuel laws around the world actually encourage harming the environment, prominent scientists argue in the latest issue of Science. Under the Kyoto Treaty, in laws throughout Europe, and in the bill that passed the US House, biofuels count as carbon-neutral, on the theory that the plants the fuel is... More »

MORE ABOUT:
climate change • environment • trees • biofuel • Kyoto Protocol • deforestation • carbon emissions

113 Stories


Montana, Saskatchewan pursue carbon capture project
Canadian Press

US not abandoning coal any time soon
Houston Chronicle

Firm explores storing carbon in the ocean
Greentech Media


Technology  •  Science & Health 
TwitterFollow @NewserTech on Twitter

 
climate change • carbon dioxide • power plant • coal power • carbon emissions • Department of Energy • carbon sequestration

from our news partners