Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Carbon sequestration too leaky to stop global warming
Carbon dioxide sequestration isn't a great global warming solution unless we develop less leaky equipment or commit to regular re-sequestering, according to a paper published in Nature Geoscience. If the containers used don't leak less than one percent every thousand years, atmospheric carbon would have to be monitored carefully and resequestered on a regular basis over tens of thousands of years in order to match the effects of reducing carbon emissions. Otherwise, sequestration would only slow the warming, not stop it.
To study the long-term effects of carbon sequestration, Dr. Gary Shaffer modeled several scenarios and methods of storing carbon, both underground and in the ocean, as well as various combinations of the two.
He noted that current methods for both types of sequestration have leakages rate that are too high, and would only lead to a delayed warming of the atmosphere. According to his calculations, any method of sequestration would have to leak less than 1 percent of its volume every one thousand years in order to fully prevent global warming.
Posted by RPR at 7:48 PM