Reverse Geo-Engineering with Carbon Capture and Sequestration feat. Sean Wagner

Carbon capture and storage. Loved by some, hated by others,
essential to many an energy transition modeller for achieving net
zero emissions. On today's show we explore some of the science
and engineering challenges underlying Carbon Capture and
Sequestration (CCS.) We look at CO2 capture at the stack, from
the air and oceans examining the technical possibilities, the
energy and material costs and the scaling difficulties.
  


The history of human influence on the climate system is thought
to predate the industrial revolution. For example the Little Ice
Age is correlated to massive human population die offs and
accompanying reforestation secondary to the Black Death and old
world diseases running rampant in the Americas.  


Since the industrial revolution the burning of fossil fuels has
taken us from an atmospheric concentration of 280ppm to 417ppm of
CO2 with an accompanying 1C increase in global average
temperatures. The laws of thermodynamics make reversing our
centuries long liberation of hundreds of millions of years of
stored carbon unimaginably difficult.


Enslaving carbon by emitting a trillion tonnes of CO2 into the
atmosphere to power an army of machines and chemical processes
has brought humanity unimaginable wealth, freed slaves and
extended lifespans but threatens future prosperity. Truly reverse
engineering that process to put that CO2 back underground comes
with a near impossible price tag, new infrastructure and energy
requirements.  


Keeping carbon in the ground and abating emissions as much as
possible is an urgent matter however many environmentalists and
climate activists chearlead the closure of zero emissions nuclear
plants like Indian Point last week. An ounce of prevention is
truly worth a pound of cure but in a global society utterly
dependent on fossil fuels for energy, transportation, cement,
steel, fertilizer and many other vital processes is CCS part of
the solution?  


I am joined by Sean Wagner a materials engineer with a masters of
science in engineering focused on nanotechnology from the
University of Alberta. Sean is a master science communicator and
lead writer and editor at the Alberta Nuclear Nucleus, a
co-founder of Canadians for Nuclear Energy and the lead science
advisor for the Decouple Podcast.