From Earth Institute-Columbia U: The urgency of the development of CO2 capture from ambient air (hint: consider trees)

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22843674

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012 Jul 27. [Epub ahead of print]

The urgency of the development of CO2 capture from ambient air.

Lackner KS, Brennan S, Matter JM, Park AH, Wright A, van der Zwaan B.

Source

Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy, Earth Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027.

Abstract

CO(2) capture and storage (CCS) has the potential to develop into an important tool to address climate change. Given society's present reliance on fossil fuels, widespread adoption of CCS appears indispensable for meeting stringent climate targets. We argue that for conventional CCS to become a successful climate mitigation technology-which by necessity has to operate on a large scale-it may need to be complemented with air capture, removing CO(2) directly from the atmosphere. Air capture of CO(2) could act as insurance against CO(2) leaking from storage and furthermore may provide an option for dealing with emissions from mobile dispersed sources such as automobiles and airplanes.