Carbon capture and storage by thermal power plants

A report published in Scientific American states that over the next five years at least half a million tons of carbon dioxide will be injected into rock deep underneath the Mountaineer power plant near New Haven, West Virginia. That is less than 0.00001 percent of global emissions of the greenhouse gas and less than 2 percent of the plant’s own CO₂ output.However, the sequestration marks the first commercial demonstration of the only available technological fix for the carbon problem of coal-fired power plants.Coal accounts for roughly 50 percent of the electricity generated in the U.S.The top emitters of global warming pollution—China and the U.S.—burn nearly four billion tons of the dirty black rock a year.As a result, everyone from coal companies to environmental groups have identified carbon capture and storage, or CCS, as critical in enabling significant and rapid cuts in greenhouse gases.