News and Outreach: Howard Herzog

While noting that carbon capture and storage (CCS) could be combined with biomass to produce negative net emissions, MIT Energy Initiative/Joint Program Senior Research Engineer and CCS expert Howard Herzog argues that “the focus of today should be on mitigation as opposed to worrying about negative emissions sometime in the future.”

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Previous studies have suggested that when CO₂ is stored underground, it may degrade layers of rock above it and leak back into the atmosphere. However, a new study indicates that such concerns may be exaggerated. Joint Program associate and carbon capture expert Howard Herzog comments.

To adequately address climate change concerns, we will need to radically alter our energy systems to eliminate practically all carbon dioxide emissions. In analyzing the different technology options, the important measure of comparison is how much emissions reductions can be achieved and at what price. Unfortunately, the debate usually moves from objective analysis to emotional arguments that can obscure the facts and stall progress toward the ultimate goal of eliminating carbon dioxide emissions. The truth is that all energy technologies have strengths and weaknesses. We need to build on their strengths and to minimize their weaknesses.

On the path to a low-carbon economy, most experts agree that a variety of strategies will be needed, from the dramatic expansion of wind and solar power to electrification or better biofuels for cars and planes. Some technologies remain more controversial than others, however. Carbon capture and storage — the idea of trapping carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and other industrial sources before they are released into the atmosphere and then storing them, usually underground — is one such widely debated approach.

The Obama administration proposed rules limiting carbon dioxide emissions from new power plants, a move that could essentially bar new coal-fired electric generation facilities. Howard Herzog comments.