The February issue of Scientific American tells of a new technology that makes me both rejoice and worry. It looks so great, so likely to relieve a massive environmental problem that there's no way I could oppose it. But on second, third, and fourth thought, I have some doubts. The technology is called carbon sequestration.
Carbon dioxide accounts for two thirds of the greenhouse gases our economy emits.
If we could put it somewhere other than the atmosphere and keep it there, we could burn fossil fuel without crazing the climate. We know carbon sequestration can work, because in some places it already does. Natural gas tends to come out of the ground mixed with carbon dioxide, which is usually stripped out at the well and released into the air. But at operations where both gas and oil are produced, the carbon dioxide is often injected back into the well, where it helps push up more oil. This practice pays for itself in enhanced oil recovery.