Capturing CO2 and trapping it under ground in order to keep our own atmosphere habitable sounds like a concept out of an Isaac Asimov science fiction novel. However many groups of experts around the world have been working for years on developing carbon capture & storage (CCS) technology as a genuine real solution to save the planet. Certain areas in the US have large underground gaps in the rock where the depositing of CO2 at high pressure has been seriously under consideration from some time now, whilst the Scottish government has been planning to use the emptied north-sea oil fields for the very same activity. But how real is the science behind this, and how secure is it?
With global CO2 levels rising faster than ever, drastically affecting our ecosystems possibly beyond repair, global governments are dedicated to exploring every possible option for improving energy efficiency, developing sustainable renewable energy, reducing CO2 emissions in to the atmosphere and even removing CO2 from the atmosphere. Reducing energy consumption is a crucial exercise for the most immediate effect, whilst minimising CO2 production levels from ongoing energy production is the long-term goal, and CCS seems like the most adventurous concept. Nature itself has many natural devices it has developed to remove CO2 from the ecosystem, such as the world’s oceans and forests. We all know that planting trillions of trees would solve the problem, but implementing this globally is just proving completely impossible, and so now scientists have been working on other ways to remove or absorb the CO2 and keep our atmosphere liveable.
Concepts range from the wilder and wackier such as ”fake trees” to sequester much higher rates of CO2, through to simply trapping the CO2 generated (from standard coal-fired power plants) and rather than releasing in to the atmosphere, simply collecting, treating and hiding away. This has never seemed like a real solution, but more like a stop-gap, or a last-chance attempt by the fossil-fuel power plant owners to justify their continuing activity. Your domestic equivalent would be storing your household rubbish under the bed. The house will look tidy, but after a few days, weeks, months, years, at some point things will start to turn bad.
Storing harmful gases under high pressure under the ground on which we walk is not the most confidence-filling concept, however the scientists promoting the idea have always firmly stated that this was technologically feasible. However now some independent studies from un-biased scientists from Houston University have highlighted that there really are large flaws and look likely to blow a hole in the theory supporting the concept. Hopefully the world’s governments will not be so short-sighted as to continue with such a potentially dangerous activity without the highest level of independent scientific research for this particular experiment. For further details click here.
I read the paper by Economides that you are talking about. The erroneous basis for his calculations is that no wells are drilled to remove the ground water displaced by the stored carbon dioxide “carbon dioxide sequestration is not generally envisioned to be associated with any production of underground fluids,”
His paper is proof if proof were needed that relief wells will be required for many geological structures. Others have discussed the issues that these relief wells might raise. See http://scienceblogs.com/highlyallochthonous/2010/02/carbon_capture_and_storage.php