Carbon capture and sequestration for coal-fired power plants need not be an all or nothing proposition, according to a new report by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
It would be cheaper for utilities to add equipment that captures about 45% to 65% of carbon dioxide emissions. Researchers said that focusing efforts on forcing power companies to adopt full carbon capture (which is actually only 90%) is likely to delay adoption and slow development of the young, and untested, technology.
"By reducing disincentives for first movers, partial capture can serve as an important near-term strategy that can achieve greater overall emissions reductions sooner," a draft of the report said.
Earlier this year the US Department of Energy scrapped plans for the $2 billion FutureGen Alliance that sought to build a near-zero emission coal plant, citing rising costs among other reasons.
Link to the full report on partial carbon capture below.
