Land Use and Geo-Engineering - Introduction to Carbon Capture and Sequestration - page 539

Section 6
Outlook
Many of the ideas discussed in this chapter may at fi rst glance look more
like science fi ction than serious science. We have used seven chapters
in this text to explain the challenges in carbon capture and sequestration.
The message of the present chapter is that these challenges in CCS are
modest compared to what must be done to reduce absolute CO 2 levels
in the atmosphere. Indeed, given what we know now, any CO 2 molecule
we emit today will undoubtedly be much more expensive to capture later.
Our geo-engineering experiment of emitting into the atmosphere in
less than two centuries the amount of CO 2 that nature has sequestered
over a period of a million years creates a very large burden on our future.
Consider the words from the 2011 World Energy Outlook: “ Delaying
action is a false economy. For every $1 of investment in the power sector
avoided before 2020, an additional $4.3 would need to be spent after
2020 to compensate for the higher emissions. ”
Do we want to risk paying such a price in the future and delaying
action now while some doubts about the exact extent and consequences
of climate change continue to pervade the discussions?
Well, what will you do if you feel some pain on your chest and are
short of breath? I guess you will visit your doctor and if you do not like
the message of changing your lifestyle, you will ask for a second opinion,
and a third, and another one, and yet another one, and another ... and
another... until you have visited the doctor who fi nally tells you that the
experts are creating a conspiracy, all your symptoms are fl uctuations and
there is nothing wrong with you! And you had almost risked wasting pre-
cious resources in adopting a healthy lifestyle...