11 - Carbon Capture and Sequestration

Summary

Here I examine flue gas capture of CO₂ along with geologic sequestration. While CCS could reasonably be categorized as a form of emissions reduction rather than a climate intervention, I present it as the latter because the capture step is so similar to what would be required for direct air capture, and the sequestration step is identical. I first clarify that the real value in BECCS is the carbon capture, not the inefficient bio energy production. After delving into the mechanics and economics of the CCS process, I review the status of large CCS facilities around the world, noting that we are scaling this technology at a small fraction of the pace required. While there is a small market for carbon use in products, the vast majority of what we might extract needs to be pumped underground in secure storage sites. As there is no market value in such carbon sequestration, this technology will not begin to scale substantially until government policy mandates or incents it via regulation or carbon charges.