UK to pump greenhouse gas under sea:
Proposals to store tens of millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide under the seabed are to be unveiled by ministers tomorrow in a dramatic attempt to tackle global warming.
[...]
Experts who back the proposal claim that, technically, the UK could store all its carbon emissions for more than 100 years in exhausted oil and gas fields in the North Sea. Around the world, similar projects could theoretically hold all man-made carbon emissions.They claim the gas will be safely trapped in the bedrock for tens of thousands of years or more – long enough for the human race to stop and even reverse global warming, and to find a long-term alternative to the use of fossil fuels.
[...]
The revolutionary technique involves pumping liquified carbon dioxide at high pressure from places such as coal- and gas-fired power stations along pipes on the ocean floor.
[...]
But the scheme will be heavily criticised by environment groups such as Greenpeace. It claims the plan is a technically unproven “distraction” from the real task of deeply cutting our use of oil, gas and coal.Blake Lee Harwood, Greenpeace’s head of campaigns, said: “This is the big excuse that oil giants like Exxon and Texaco are looking for, to avoid having to do anything about climate change. They will be dancing for joy at the prospect of a huge international push in this direction.”
Oh how terrible it is to come up with an alternative plan to cleaning up pollution that does not require a reduction in consumption or production of a fossil fuel.
Quite the novel idea, if I do say so myself. In fact, I actually came up with a similar idea for a 2nd grade Invention Convention contest but was told that it was impracticle — which scarred me for life…
Via Mike Ewens.