carbon sequestration

Carbon sequestration

Trees and vegetation absorb carbon dioxide (CO²) from the atmosphere until they are burnt or decay when it is released back into the atmosphere.

However if this vegetable material is buried and swept by floods or rivers into the the oceans, the pressure of the water converts the material into fossil fuels such as oil and gas.

Burning these fossil fuels releases the carbon dioxide that was captured by the trees and plants before they were fossilised.

Burning fossil fuels for power is a potential problem because it is using up a potentially valuable resource and because it releases the captured CO² back into the atmosphere!

However the public demand for oil and gas, and particularly for petrol, means that the economies of the world must generate energy and fossil fuel power stations with carbon capture are a short-term, viable solution.