Despite the emergence of renewable energy sources such as large-scale wind and solar power, our planet is still heavily reliant on fossil fuels.
In the U.S., for example, the Energy Information Administration states that petroleum, natural gas and coal accounted for roughly 77.6 percent of primary energy production in 2017.
It's within this context that, in some quarters, the idea of carbon capture and storage, or CCS, has gained traction.
A bipartisan group of senators is pushing for funding at the "highest possible levels" for carbon capture technology development.
The 12 lawmakers, including four Republicans, urged Senate appropriators to provide the Department of Energy with maximum funding for carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS).
In the wake of several major climate reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the U.S. Government, climate change has taken center stage in American political discourse, encapsulated by — but in no way limited to — the Green New Deal. Many of the proposed plans for confronting the climate crisis stress the imperative of decreasing emissions by transitioning to 100% "clean" or "renewable" sources of energy.
“Such an upheaval would throw millions out of work or push them into retraining for other jobs envisioned by the proposal — assuming those jobs existed in sufficient quantity — that may not pay as much or offer the same level of benefits.”
PALISADES, NEW YORK — Peter Kelemen spends time in Oman looking for ways to pull carbon out of the air and put it back underground. His colleague, David Goldberg, looks at ways to store it far below the sea floor off the Oregon coast. Chemical engineer Alissa Park is working with steel mills in China to turn slag and waste carbon dioxide into reusable material.
If we're going to reach the goal of keeping Earth from warming more than 1.5° C (2.7° F) this century, it's not enough to just reduce our carbon dioxide emissions – we need to actively clean it out of the atmosphere too. Inspired by the ocean's role as a natural carbon sink, researchers at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) and Georgia Tech have developed a new system that absorbs CO2 and produces electricity and useable hydrogen fuel.
The promise of a Green New Deal has become a galvanizing force in US politics, inspiring climate activists and building much-needed pressure behind a sweeping federal climate plan.
But the proposed environmental and economic policy package has contained a technical flaw from the start that’s coming into sharper relief as interest groups seek to translate its high-minded ideals into nuts-and-bolts policies.
